Route aware serial advanced technology attachment (sata ) switch

ABSTRACT

An embodiment of the present invention is disclosed to include a SATA Switch allowing for access by two hosts to a single port SATA device Further disclosed are embodiments for reducing the delay and complexity of the SATA Switch.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/775,523, filed on Feb. 9, 2004, by Sam Nemazie, and entitled “RouteAware Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) Switch and is acontinuation-in-part of my U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/775,521,by Sam Nemazie, filed on Feb. 9, 2004 and entitled “Switching SerialAdvanced Technology Attachment (SATA) To A Parallel Interface” and is acontinuation-in-part of my U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/775,488filed on Feb. 9, 2004, by Sam Nemazie, and entitled “Serial AdvancedTechnology Attachment (SATA) Switch”.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to Serial Advanced TechnologyAttachment ATA (SATA) switches, and in particular to switches having twohost ports and one device port allowing for access by both host ports tothe device port concurrently.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Overview of SATA Protocol

A “device” as used herein refers to a peripheral adhering to any knownstandard adopted by the industry. SATA is a high-speed serial linkreplacement for the parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA)attachment of mass storage devices. The serial link employed is apoint-to-point high-speed differential link that utilizes gigabittechnology and 8b/10b encoding known to those of ordinary skill in theart. The SATA protocol is based on a layered communication model similarto Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model. An overview ispresented below. For more detail, the reader is referred to the SATAstandard incorporated herein by reference. The SATA specification isprovided in the publication entitled “Serial ATA: High Speed SerializedATA Attachment” Revisions 1.0, dated Aug. 29, 2001, and the publicationentitled “Serial ATA II: Extensions to Serial ATA 1.0”, Revision 1.0,dated Oct. 16, 2002, both of which are currently available at Serial ATAwork group web site www.serialata.com.

In the SATA protocol, each layer of protocol communicates with itscounterpart directly or indirectly. FIG. 1 a shows the SATA protocolcommunication layers 20. The Physical (Phy) layer (PL) 21 manages thephysical communication between the SATA units. The services of PLinclude:

-   -   serializing a parallel input from the link layer (LL) 22 and        transmitting differential Non-Return to Zero (NRZ) serial        stream.    -   receiving differential NRZ serial stream, extracting data (and        optionally, the clock) from the serial bit stream, deserializing        the serial stream, and providing a bit and a word aligned        parallel output to the LL 22    -   performing the power-on sequencing, and performing speed        negotiation,    -   providing specified out of band (OOB) signal detection and        generation

The serial ATA link is defined by a protocol pursuant to a knownstandard, having four layers of communications, the physical layer forperforming communication at a physical level, a link layer, a transportlayer and an application layer or sometimes referred thereto as acommand layer. A transmitter and a receiver, cannot directly communicatethe latter with each other, rather, they must go through the otherlayers of their system prior to reaching a corresponding layer of theother. For example, for the physical layer of a transmitter tocommunicate with the transport layer of the receiver, it must first gothrough the link, transport and application layers of the transmitterand then through the serial ATA link to the application layer of thereceiver and finally to the transport layer of the receiver.

The basic unit of communication or exchange is a frame. A framecomprises of a start of frame (SOF) primitive, a frame informationstructure (FIS), a Cyclic Redundancy Checksum (CRC) calculated over thecontents of the FIS and an end of frame (EOF) primitive. The serial ATAorganization has defined a specification in which the definition of aframe is provided and which is intended to be used throughout thisdocument. Primitives are double word (Dword) entities that are used tocontrol and provide status of the serial line. The serial ATAorganization has defined a specification in which the definition ofallowed Primitives is provided and which is intended to be usedthroughout this document

FIG. 1 b shows an example of a frame 30. The frame, in FIG. 1 b, startswith an SOF primitive 30 a, followed by a first FIS content 30 b,followed by a HOLD primitive 30 c indicating that the transmitter doesnot have data available, followed by a second FIS content 30 d, followedby a HOLDA primitive 30 e sent to acknowledge receipt of HOLD primitive,sent by the receiver, indicating that the receiver buffer is in a ‘notready’ condition, followed by a CRC 30 f and an EOF primitive 30 g.

The frame, in FIG. 1 b, includes two primitives a HOLD and a HOLDAprimitive used for flow control. A HOLD primitive indicates inability tosend or to receive FIS contents. A HOLDA primitive is sent toacknowledge receipt of a HOLD primitive. For example, when a receivingnode detects that its buffer is almost full, it will send a HOLDprimitive to a transmitting node, requesting the transmitter node tostop and when the buffer is ready to receive more data, the receivingnode will stop sending a HOLD primitive. The transmitting node sends aHOLDA primitive to acknowledge receipt of the HOLD primitive. Untilreceipt of the HOLDA primitive, the receiving node continues receivingdata. In order to prevent a buffer overrun, the SATA protocol requires amaximum delay of 20 Dwords between a node sending the HOLD primitive andreceiving a HOLDA primitive.

There are a number of different frame types, as shown in FIG. 1 d. Forexample, to send data via Direct Memory Access (DMA), a frame known asDMA setup FIS is utilized followed by a DMA data FIS. There aregenerally three types of FIS structures, one for commands, one forsetting up a transfer and another for data relating to the transfer.Each frame structure is used for a different purpose. A command type offrame is sent to execute a command, a setup frame is used to prepare forthe data transfer phase of the command and a data frame is used totransfer data. At the command layer, the system communicates with thecommand layer through the task file, mentioned hereinabove and shown inFIG. 1 c. The command layer uses two distinct busses for communication,one is for transferring data FIS and the other is for transferringnon-data FIS. Although 2 busses are discussed herein in a single bus maybe employed.

The link layer (LL) 22 transmits and receives frames, transmitsprimitives based on control signals from the PL 21, and receivesprimitives from Phy layer (PL) 21 which are converted to control signalsto the transport layer (TL) 23.

The transport layer (TL) 23 need not be cognizant of how frames aretransmitted and received. The TL 23 simply constructs frame informationstructures (FIS's) for transmission and decomposes the received FIS's.

FIG. 1 d shows the FIS types. The FIS types are summarized below:

-   -   Register FIS—host to device 40(i)    -   Register FIS—device to host 40(ii)    -   DMA Activate FIS 40(iii)    -   DMA Setup FIS 40(iv)    -   Set Device Bits FIS 40(v)    -   PIO Setup FIS 40(vi)    -   Data FIS 40(vii)    -   BIST Activate FIS 40(viii)

In the application layer of the serial ATA link, the host accesses a setof registers that are ATA registers, data port, error, features,sectors, cylinder low, cylinder high, status and command. Thus, theapplication layer communicates in the same language as the ATA standard,which is at the command layer. Thus, the command layer uses the sameregister set as the ATA link. The register set is known as task fileregisters.

The command layer (CL) or application layer (AL) 24 interacts with TL 23for sending/receiving command, data, and status. The CL 24 includesregister block register; also known as a task file (TF), used fordelivering commands or posting status that is equivalent to thatprovided by a traditional parallel ATA.

FIG. 1 c shows a simplified version of the Shadow Register Blockorganization 31 of parallel ATA. The Shadow Register Block comprises

-   -   Data Port 31 dp    -   Error Register 31 e    -   Features Register 31 f    -   Sector Count 31 sc    -   Sector Number 31 sn    -   Cylinder Low 31 cl    -   Cylinder High 31 ch    -   Device/Head 31 dev    -   Status 31 s    -   Command 31 c    -   Alternate Status 31 as    -   Device Control 31 dc

A SATA port, including part or all of the layer 1 functions, will bereferred to herein as the SATA level 1 port. A SATA port, including partor all of the layers 1 and 2 functions, will be referred to herein as aSATA level 2 port. A SATA port, including part or all of the layers 1,2, and 3 functions, will be referred to as a SATA level 3 port. A SATAport, including part or all of the layers 1, 2, 3 and 4 functions, willbe referred to herein as a SATA level 4 port. The term SATA port refersto a generic port including level 1 or level 2 or level 3 or level 4.The SATA layers are for coupling to either the host or the device. Theterm SATA host port refers to a SATA port connected to a host. The termSATA device port refers to a SATA port connected to a device. Forexample, if the outbound high speed differential transmit signals 51 txand the inbound differential receive signals 51 rx of FIG. 2 a areconnected to a host, the SATA port is a SATA host port. Similarly, ifthe outbound high speed differential transmit signals 51 tx and theinbound differential receive signals 51 rx of FIG. 2 a are connected toa device, the SATA port is a SATA device port.

FIGS. 2 a and 2 b show block diagrams of a SATA port 50. The SATA port50 includes a PL circuit 51, a LL circuit 52, a TL circuit 53 and a CLcircuit 54. The PL circuit 51 is connected to outbound high speeddifferential transmit signals 51 tx and inbound differential receivesignals 51 rx, the PL circuit 51 is connected to the LL circuit 52 via alink transmit bus 52 t, and a link receive bus 52 r. The PL circuit 51comprises an analog front end (AFE) 51 a, a phy initialization statemachine (Phy ISM) 51 b, an out-of-band (OOB) detector 51 c, a Phy/LinkInterface 51 e. The Phy/Link interface block optionally includes anelastic first-in-first-out (FIFO) 51 ef and a transmit FIFO 51 tf. ThePhy/Link Interface 51 e provides the coupling of the PL circuit 51 tothe LL circuit 52 via the link transmit bus 52 t, and the link receivebus 52 r. A multiplexer 51 d, controlled by the Phy ISM 51 b, selectsthe link transmit data 51 t or the initialization sequence 51 s from thePhy ISM 51 b. The AFE 51 a includes the Phy receiver and Phytransmitter. The AFE 51 a couples differential transmit signals 51 txand differential receive signals 51 rx to the receive data 51 r and tothe transmit data 51 td. The Phy transmitter is enabled by the PhyTransmitter Enable (PhyTxEn) signal 51 te. When the Phy transmitter isdisabled, the Phy output is in the idle bus state (Tx differentialsignal diminishes to zero). The OOB detector 51 c detects out of band(OOB) signals 51. The OOB signals 51 o comprise COMRESET, COMWAKE.

The LL circuit 52 is connected to the PL circuit 51 via the linktransmit bus 52 t and the link receive bus 52 r. The LL circuit 52 isconnected to the TL circuit 53 via a transport transmit bus 53 t, atransport receive bus 53 r and a transport control/status bus 53 c. TheTL circuit 53 comprises a data FIS First-In-First-Out (FIFO) circuit 53a for holding the data FIS during transit, a block of non-Data FISRegisters 53 b for holding non-Data FIS, and a multiplexer 53 d. Thedata FIS FIFO 53 a is a dual port FIFO, each port having separate inputand output. The FIFO 53 a comprises a first FIFO port 53 a(1) and asecond port 53 a(2), the first port further including a first input port53 a(i 1) and a first FIFO output port 53 a(o 1), the second portfurther including a second FIFO input port 53 a(i 2), and a secondoutput port 53 a(o 2).

The first FIFO port 53 a(1) is coupled to the LL circuit 52 via the saidtransport transmit bus 53 t, the transport receive bus 53 r and thetransport control/status bus 53 c. The second FIFO port 53 a(2) iscoupled to the CL circuit 54 via the data FIS receive bus 54 r and thedata FIS transmit bus 54 t. The TL circuit 53 is coupled to the CLcircuit 54 via a task file input bus 54 i and a task file output bus 54o. The multiplexer 53 d selects between the first FIFO output port 53a(o 1) and the task file input bus 54 i. The CL circuit 54 comprises aTask File 54 a. The Task file 54 a is coupled to the TL circuit 53 viathe task file input bus 54 i and the task file output bus 54 o. The Taskfile 54 a is coupled to the system bus 57 via the port task file inputbus 56 i and port task file output bus 56 o, the CL circuit 54additionally couples the Data FIS receive bus 54 r and the Data FIStransmit bus 54 t to system bus 57 via a data input bus 55 i and thedata output bus 55 o. A configuration signal configures the operation ofthe SATA port for host or device operation The CL circuit 54 may becoupled to the system bus 57 via a single bus for data port and taskfile access.

The SATA switches of prior art allow two different hosts to connect tothe same device, however, when one host is connected to the device, theother host can not access the device. Such limitations of prior artsystems will be further explained. The SATA switches of prior art do notallow two hosts to access the device concurrently.

FIG. 3 a shows a system 10 using a prior art SATA switch 14. The system10 is shown to include a host 11 coupled to a SATA Host Bus Adaptor(SATA HBA) 11 a, the SATA HBA 11 a is shown to be coupled to a host port14 a of the SATA switch 14 via a SATA link 11 b and a host 12, which isshown coupled to a SATA HBA 12 a, which is shown coupled to a host port14 b of the SATA switch 14 via a SATA link 12 b. The device port 14 c ofthe SATA switch 14 is shown coupled to a storage unit 16, such as a harddisk drive (HDD) or a Tape Drive or Optical Drive via a SATA link 16 a.The storage unit 16 is an example of a device.

A select signal 15 selects either the host port 14 a or the host port 14b of the SATA switch 14. The port that is coupled to thecurrently-selected host on the SATA switch is considered an active portwhereas the port that is not coupled to the currently-selected host isconsidered the inactive port. An active host as used herein indicates ahost that is currently being selected.

Two methods are used to select the active port, side-band port selectionand protocol-based port selection. In the side-band port selectionmethod, the SATA switch 14 operatively couples either the host 11 or thehost 12 to the device 16 based on the state of the select signal 15. Themechanism for generating the select signal 15 is system dependent. Theprotocol-based port selection uses SATA protocol on the inactive hostport to cause a switch to activate. The protocol-based port selectionuses a sequence of SATA OOB signals to select the active port. Theaforementioned methods only allow access to a storage unit by a singlehost at any given time. This type of SATA switch is referred to as asimple failover switch.

FIG. 3 b shows a system application of the SATA to ATA switch 64. TheSATA to ATA Switch 64 comprises of a SATA port 64 a coupled to a host11, a SATA port 64 b coupled to a host 12 and an ATA port 64 c coupledto a storage unit 66. In system 60, the storage unit 66 has an ATA linkand the ATA port 64 c is coupled to a storage unit 66 via an ATA link 66a.

The use of the simple failover switch is in applications where in theevent of failure of the primary host, the system switches to a standbysecondary host, hence the name simple failover switch. In these types ofsystems, the operation of the system is interrupted and a “glitch”occurs. Obviously, mission-critical systems that cannot afford afailure, require uninterrupted system operation when a failure occurs.Mission-critical systems thus require concurrent access by both hosts tothe storage unit, therefore, a mission critical system can not use asimple failover switch and instead uses dual-ported storage units,wherein the storage unit can be accessed concurrently from both ports.Fiber channel (FC) hard disk drives (HDDs) are typically dual-ported andare generally used in mission critical systems. FC HDDs are typically anorder of magnitude more expensive than SATA HDDs. There is an economicneed, however, to use the less expensive ATA or SATA HDDs in the storageunits for mission-critical systems. However, ATA or SATA HDDs aresingle-ported and a simple failover switch does not allow concurrentaccess to the storage unit by multiple hosts.

Therefore, there is a need for electronic switches allowing access byhost to devices, such as storage units wherein concurrent access isallowed from two or more host ports to a single-ported storage unitconnected to the device port of a switch via a SATA link or an ATA link.

The SATA switch will cause additional delays in the signal path that maycause failure to meet the timing requirement of the SATA protocol timingrequirement for signal path. There is a need for a SATA switch wherein,with the additional delay of the switch, the timing requirements of theSATA protocol are met. “Host”, as used herein below, refers to eitherthe host 11 or 12 of FIGS. 3 a and 3 b, depending on the context of thediscussion. Similarly “device” as used herein below, refers to device 16of FIGS. 3 a, and 3 b.

Prior Art SATA Switch

Simple failover switches of prior art systems perform switching withinlayer 1. FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a prior art simple failoverswitch (SFX) 100, switching within the layer 1. The switch 100 is shownto include a PL circuit 111, a PL circuit 121, a PL circuit 131, anactive host selection circuit 141, a multiplexer 142, and a switchinitialization circuit 144. The PL circuits 111, 121, and 131 aremodified versions of the PL circuit 51 (shown in FIG. 2 b) providing theOOB signals and control signals 111 i, 121 i and 131 i, the latter ofwhich provide some of the control signals for PL circuits 111, 121, and131, respectively. The PL circuit 111 is configured for connection tothe host and is connected to the outbound high speed differentialtransmit signals 111 tx and the inbound differential receive signals 111rx. The link receive bus 112 r of the PL circuit 111 is connected to themultiplexer 142.

The link transmit bus 112 t of the PL circuit 111 is connected to thelink receive bus 132 r of the PL circuit 131 and the OOB signals 111 oof the PL circuit 111 is connected to the switch initialization circuit144 and the active host selection circuit 141, the Phy ISM controlsignals 111 i of PL Circuit 111 is connected to switch initializationcircuit 144. The PhyTxEn 111 en signal of PL circuit 111 is connected toactive host selection circuit 141. The PL circuit 121 is configured forconnection to a host and is connected to outbound high speeddifferential transmit signals 121 tx and inbound differential receivesignals 121 rx, the link receive bus 122 r of the PL 121 is connected tomultiplexer 142, the link transmit bus 122 t of PL circuit 121 isconnected to the link receive bus 132 r of the PL circuit 131, the OOBsignals 121 o of PL circuit 121 is connected to switch initializationcircuit 144 and the active host selection circuit 141. The Phy ISMcontrol signals 121 i of the PL circuit 121 is connected to the switchinitialization circuit 144. The PhyTxEn signal 121 en of PL circuit 121is connected to an active host selection circuit 141. The PL circuit 131is configured for connection to a device and is connected to theoutbound high speed differential transmit signals 131 tx and the inbounddifferential receive signals 131 rx, the link receive bus 132 r of thePL circuit 131 is connected to the link transmit bus 112 t of the PLcircuit 111 and the link transmit bus 122 t of the PL circuit 121. Thelink transmit bus 132 t of the PL circuit 131 is connected to the outputof multiplexer 142, the OOB signals 131 o of PL 131 is connected toswitch initialization circuit 144, the Phy ISM control signals 131 i ofthe PL circuit 131 is connected to the switch initialization circuit144. The PhyTxEn signal 131 en of the PL circuit 131 is connected to theactive host selection circuit 141 or alternatively is set to a level toenable the transmitter of the PL circuit 131 transmitter (not shown inFIG. 4).

The active host selection circuit 141 includes the SFX port selectiondetection circuit 141 a and the SFX port selection detection circuit 141b. The SFX port selection detection circuit 141 a monitors COMRESET forthe occurrence of the port selection sequence and when the portselection sequence is detected, the circuit 141 a generates anindication signal. The SATA protocol defines port selection sequence asa series of COMRESET signals with a specified timing requirement fromassertion of one COMRESET signal to the assertion of the next.

There is no active host port selected upon power-up. The first COMRESETor COMWAKE received from a host port selects the host port from which itwas received as the active host. Reception of the protocol-based portselection signal on the inactive host port causes the active hostselection circuit 141 to deselect the currently active host port firstand then to select the host port over which the selection signal isreceived. The inactive host is placed into quiescent power state bysetting the PhyTxEn signal of the inactive port to a predefined level.

The active host selection circuit 141 generates a multiplexer selectsignal 141 s for selecting one of two input signals to be directed tothe output of the multiplexer 142, as its output. The active hostselection circuit 141 also generates a first host active signal 141 h 1that when is at a ‘high’ or logical one state, indicates that the host,which is connected to the PL circuit 111, is the active host. The activehost selection circuit 141 also generates a host active signal 141 h 2that when is at a ‘high’ or logical one level indicates the host which,is connected to PL circuit 121, is the active host.

The switch initialization circuit 144 receives the OOB signals 111 ofrom the PL circuit 111, the OOB signals 1210 from the PL circuit 121,and the OOB signals 1310 from the PL circuit 131. The switchinitialization circuit 141 generates the Phy ISM control signals 111 ifor the PL circuit 111, the Phy ISM control signals 121 i for PL thecircuit 121, and the Phy ISM control signal 131 i to perform thefollowing functions:

-   -   Relay (receive and then transmit) COMRESET from active host port        to device port.    -   Relay COMINIT from device port to active host port    -   Relay COMWAKE from device port to active host port.    -   Relay COMWAKE from device port to active host port    -   Relay ALIGN primitive detection from device port to active host        port    -   Relay host ALIGN primitive detection from active host port to        device port.    -   Relay device port PHY_RDY to active host port.    -   Relay SYNC primitive from device port to active host port

By way of clarification, an example of a device port is the circuit 131when the signals 131 rx and 131 tx are connected to a device. Similarly,an example of a host port is the circuit 111 when the signals 111 tx and111 rx are connected to a host. Clearly, another example of a host portis the circuit 121 when the signals 121 tx and 121 rx are connected to ahost.

One of the problems of prior art systems, such as the one shown herein,is that the switch 100 causes a delay in the signal path between activehost port and device port such that the timing requirements of the SATAprotocol are not met. In particular, pursuant to the SATA protocolstandard, the HOLD/HOLD-ACKNOWLEDGE (HOLD/HOLDA) handshake, used forflow control, specifies a maximum delay of 20 DWORDS. The addition ofthe switch 100 in the signal path between an active host port and adevice port causes failure to meet the maximum delay of 20 DWORDS timingrequirement.

Thus, the switch 100 causes additional delays in the signal path thatmay cause the timing of signal path not to meet the SATA protocol timingrequirement, in particular, the HOLD/HOLDA handshake delay should notexceed 20 DWORDS.

There is a need for a switch coupled between a plurality of host unitsand a device for arbitrating communication there between, the switchhaving associated therewith a delay of time, wherein despite the delayof the switch, the timing requirements of the SATA protocol are met.

The SATA switch 100 does not allow the inactive host to access thedevice. There is a need for electronic switches allowing concurrentaccess from two host ports to a single-ported storage unit connected tothe device port of a switch via a SATA link or an ATA link.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Briefly, an embodiment of the present invention includes a switchincluding a first serial ATA port coupled to a first host unit, thefirst port includes a first host task file. The switch further includesa second serial ATA port coupled to a second host unit, the second portincludes a second host task file. The switch further includes a thirdserial ATA port coupled to a storage unit, the third port includes adevice task file. The switch additionally includes an arbiter forselecting one of a plurality of host units to be coupled to the storageunit through the switch when there is an indication of at least onepending command from one of the plurality of host units, wherein whileone of the plurality of host units is coupled to the storage unit,another one of the plurality of host units sends ATA commands to theswitch for execution by the storage unit.

IN THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 a shows prior art SATA protocol communication layers.

FIG. 1 b shows an example of a prior art SATA frame structure.

FIG. 1 c shows an example of a prior art shadow register block of SATA.

FIG. 1 d shows a prior art FIS structure of SATA protocol.

FIG. 2 a shows a block diagram of a prior art SATA port includingprotocol layers 1-4.

FIG. 2 b shows a block diagram of a prior art SATA port including somecircuits within each protocol layer.

FIG. 3 a shows a prior art system application of a SATA switch.

FIG. 3 b shows a prior art system application of a SATA to ATA switch

FIG. 4 shows an example of a prior art simple failover switch, switchingat layer 1.

FIG. 5 illustrates a simple failover switch, switching at layer 2, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of a switch in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention

FIG. 7 a shows a block diagram of an arbitration and control circuit ofthe switch of FIG. 6.

FIG. 7 b shows a block diagram of a Tag/Sactive Mapping Circuit 341 ofFIG. 7 a.

FIG. 7 c shows a mux-demux 353 and mux-demux 354 of the switch of FIG.6.

FIG. 8 a shows a flow chart of the operation of the switch 300 of FIG. 6for legacy queue commands.

FIG. 8 b shows a flow chart of the operation of the switch of FIG. 6 fornative queue commands

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram a SATA level 3 port used in anembodiment of active switch in accordance with the present invention.

FIGS. 10 a and 10 b illustrates an active switch in accordance with analternative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 c illustrates embodiments of the mux-demux 543 a and themultiplexer 543 b of the switch of FIGS. 10 a and 10 b.

FIGS. 11 a and 11 b illustrate embodiments of an active SATA to ATAswitch in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 shows an embodiment of a route aware FIS structure used with yetanother embodiment of the present switch.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to FIG. 5, a method employed in one of the embodiments ofthe present invention uses a level 2 SATA port for host and device portsand a FIS FIFO between the host ports and device ports to avoid any datadrop out. The level 2 SATA port responds immediately to HOLD/HOLDArather than relaying the primitives and waiting for response from theother port. FIG. 5 shows a high-level block diagram of a switch 200,switching within layer 2 and in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention. The switch 200 is shown to comprise a SATA level 2host port 210, a SATA level 2 host port 220, a SATA level 2 device port230, a FIS payload FIFO 245, a multiplexer 242 a, a multiplexer 242 b, ademultiplexer 243, an active host selection circuit 241, and a switchinitialization circuit 244.

The FIS FIFO 245 includes a dual ported FIFO comprising a FIS FIFO inputport 245(i 1), a FIS FIFO output port 245(o 1), a FIS FIFO input port245(i 2) and a FIS FIFO output port 245(o 2).

The SATA level 2 host port 210 comprises a PL circuit 211 and a LLcircuit 212 and is connected to the outbound high speed differentialtransmit signals 211 tx and to the inbound differential receive signals211 rx and includes a transport receive bus 213 r, transport transmitbus 213 t, a transport control/status bus 213 co generated from the linklayer 212 and a control/status bus 213 ci being transmitted to the linklayer 212. The transport receive bus 213 r is connected to themultiplexer 242 a. The control/status bus 213 co is shown connected tothe multiplexer 242 b, the transport transmit bus 213 t is shownconnected to the FIS FIFO output port 245(o 1), the OOB signals 211 oare shown connected to the switch initialization circuit 244 and to theactive host selection circuit 241. The switch initialization circuit 244generates the Phy ISM control signals 211 i.

The SATA level 2 host port 220 is shown to comprise a PL circuit 221,and a LL circuit 222, and is connected to the outbound high speeddifferential transmit signals 221 tx and to the inbound differentialreceive signals 221 rx. The port 220 is shown to include a transportreceive bus 223 r, a transport transmit bus 223 t, a transportcontrol/status bus 223 co generated from the link layer 222, and acontrol/status bus 223 ci being transmitted to the link layer 222. Thetransport receive bus 223 r is connected to the multiplexer 242 a, thecontrol/status bus 223 co is connected to the multiplexer 242 b, thetransport transmit bus 223 t is connected to a FIS FIFO output port245(o 21), the OOB signals 221 o is shown connected to the switchinitialization circuit 244 and to the active host selection circuit 241.The switch initialization circuit 244 generates the Phy ISM controlsignals 221 i.

The SATA level 2 device port 230 comprises a PL circuit 231 and a LLcircuit 232 and is connected to the outbound high speed differentialtransmit signals 231 tx and to the inbound differential receive signals231 rx. The port 230 is shown to include a transport receive bus 233 r,a transport transmit bus 233 t, a transport control/status bus 233 cogenerated from the link layer 232 and a control/status bus 233 cicoupled to the link layer 232. The transport receive bus 233 r isconnected to the FIS FIFO input port 245(i 2), the control/status bus233 ci is connected to the multiplexer 242 b output, the transporttransmit bus 233 t is connected the FIS FIFO output port 245(o 2). Thecontrol/status bus 233 co is provided as input to the demultiplexer 243,the OOB signals 231 o is connected to the switch initialization circuit244 and to the active host selection circuit 241. The switchinitialization circuit 244 generates the Phy ISM control signals 231 i.

The active host selection circuit 241 is the same as the active hostselection circuit 141 of FIG. 4. The SFX port selection detectioncircuits 241 a and 241 b of FIG. 5 are the same as the port selectiondetection circuits 141 a and 141 b, respectively. The active hostselection circuit 241 generates a multiplexer select signal 241 s thatselects the input that is placed onto the output of the multiplexer 242a and the multiplexer 242 b. The active host selection circuit 241 alsogenerates a host active signal 241 h 1 that when active or at logicalstate ‘one’, indicates that the host port 210 is active. The hostselection circuit 241 further generates a host active signal 242 h 2that when active or at logical state ‘one’, indicates that the host port220 is active. The host active signals 241 h 1 and 242 h 2 serve asinput to the demultiplexer 243 and route the control/status bus 233 coto the active host.

The switch initialization circuit 244 is the same as the switchinitialization circuit 144 of FIG. 4. The function performed by theswitch initialization circuit 244 can be distributed to the PL circuits211, 221, and 231. Similarly, the SFX port selection detections circuits241 a and 241 b can be distributed to the PL circuits 211 and 221,respectively. Alternative embodiments that distribute the functions ofthe switch initialization circuit 244 to the PL circuits 211, 221, and231 or that distribute the functions of the SFX port selection detectioncircuits to the PL circuits 211, and 221 fall within the scope ofpresent invention.

Although the layer 2 switch 200 of FIG. 5 eliminates the timing problemscaused by the switch 100 delay, the switch 200 is not able to allowaccess by two hosts to a single port device via SATA links usingstandard FIS organization.

In order to allow access by two hosts to a single port device, amultiplexing method must be employed in accordance with an alternativeembodiment of the present invention. A classical multiplexing method istime multiplexing. In time multiplexing, for alternating periods (ofequal or different time), access is granted to one host or the otherhost. Such a classical time multiplexing method can not be employed withstorage units since interruption of a command in progress results inperformance degradation or loss of data.

A multiplexing method, as used in the present invention, is referred toas command based multiplexing. In command based multiplexing, the switchkeeps track of idle condition (no command in progress), commands inprogress, command completion, and pending commands (commands receivedand saved but not sent to a device because a command is in progress anddevice is busy) with this information the switch can implement analgorithm for providing access to the device by both hosts.

Command based multiplexing requires processing at layer 4. In contrastto SATA switches of prior art that perform switching at layer 1, theSATA switch of the present invention, employing command basedmultiplexing, perform switching at layer 4 (“layer 4 switching”). In theSATA switch of the present invention, an arbitration algorithm based onrotating priority is used to select the host that can send a command tothe device. When there are pending commands from both hosts, the hostwith the highest priority will get to send its command to the device.

In operation upon power up initialization, priority is arbitrarily givento one of the hosts 11 or 12. The SATA switch of the various embodimentsof the present invention keeps track of the priority and performsarbitration to select the host that can send commands to the device.When the device enters a state for accepting another command, the switchof the various embodiments of the present invention changes priority tothe other host.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of the active switch 300 in accordance withan alternative embodiment of the present invention. The switch 300 isshown to include a SATA level 4 host port 310, a SATA level 4 host port320, a SATA level 4 device port 330, an arbitration and control circuit340, a multiplexer 351, a multiplexer 352, a mux-demux 353 and amux-demux 354. The SATA level 4 host port 310 is shown connected to theoutbound high speed differential transmit signals 311 tx and the inbounddifferential receive signals 311 rx and includes a host 11 command layerinput bus 315 i, a host 11 command layer output bus 315 o, a host 11task file input bus 316 i, and a host 11 task file output bus 316 o. TheSATA level 4 host port 320 is shown connected to the outbound high speeddifferential transmit signals 321 tx and the inbound differentialreceives signals 321 rx and includes a host 12 command layer input bus325 i, a host 12 command layer output bus 325 o, a host 12 task fileinput bus 326 i and a host 12 task file output bus 326 o. The SATA level4 device port 330 is shown connected to the outbound high speeddifferential transmit signals 331 tx and to the inbound differentialreceive signals 331 rx and includes a device command layer input bus 335i, a device command layer output bus 335 o, a device task file input bus336 i and a device task file output 336 o.

The host 11 command layer output bus 315 o is shown connected to a firstinput of multiplexer 351. The host 12 command layer output bus 325 o isshown connected to a second input of the multiplexer 351 and themultiplexer 351 output is shown connected to the device command layerinput bus 335 i. The host 11 task file output bus 316 o is shownconnected to an input of multiplexer 352 and the host 12 task fileoutput bus 326 o is shown connected to an input of multiplexer 352. Thearbitration and control circuit 340 generates the device control taskfile output bus 352 i, which in turn is connected to one of the inputsof the multiplexer 352, as shown in FIG. 5, and also generates a controlsignal 352 s, which is the control signal for the multiplexer 352. Themultiplexer 352 output is shown connected to device task file input bus336 i. The function of the bus 352 i is to replace the data from thehost in certain cases, which will be described herein below.

The device command layer output bus 335 o is shown connected to an inputof a mux-demux 353. The device task file output bus 336 o is shownconnected to an input of the mux-demux 354. The arbitration and controlcircuit 340 receives a host 11 task file output bus 316 o, a host 12task file output bus 326 o and a device task file output bus 336 o. Thearbitration and control circuit 340 generates a select signal 351 s thatcontrols the operation of the multiplexer 351. The arbitration andcontrol circuit 340 generates a control command layer output bus 353 ithat is connected to an input of the mux-demux 353. The circuit 340 alsogenerates a control signal 353 c, which is the control signal for themux-demux 353. The function of the bus 353 i is to replace the data fromthe device in certain cases, which will be described herein below.

The arbitration and control circuit 340 generates a control task fileoutput bus 354 i that is connected to one of the inputs of the mux-demux354 and, as shown, the control signal 354 c controls the operation ofthe mux-demux 354. The function of the bus 354 i is to replace thedevice task file output bus 336 o in certain cases, which are discussedherein below.

Referring now to FIG. 7 c, The mux-demux 353 has two inputs 335 o, 353 iand two outputs 315 i, 325 i. The mux-demux 353 performs two functions,the first function is selecting one of two inputs (multiplexing) and thesecond function is to route the selected one of the two inputs to aselected one of the outputs of mux-demux 353 and to set the unselectedoutput of mux-demux 353 to an inactive voltage level (demultiplexing),The control signal 353 c is for controlling the multiplexing anddemultiplexing functions of the mux-demux 353.

The mux-demux 354 has two inputs, 336 o, 354 i, and two outputs 316 iand 326 i. The mux-demux 354 performs two functions, its first functionis selecting one of two inputs (multiplexing) and its second function isto transmit the selected one of the two inputs to selected one of theoutputs of mux-demux 354 and to set the unselected output of themux-demux 354 to an inactive voltage level (demultiplexing). The controlsignal 354 c is for controlling the multiplexing and demultiplexingfunctions.

The operation of the switch 300 requires the switch 300 to be cognizantof the commands in progress and process certain commands differentlythan other commands. The arbitration and control circuit 340 receivesthe host 11 task file via the host 11 task file output bus 316 o. Thecircuit 340 also receives the host 12 task file via the host 12 taskfile output bus 326 o and also receives the device task file via thedevice task file output bus 336 o and further receives the devicecommand layer output bus 335 o.

In addition to arbitration, the arbitration and control circuit 340keeps track of commands in progress and pending commands and modifiesdata payload or FIS in some special cases. In special cases, when thedata payload must be changed, the arbitration and control circuit 340generates substitute data and provides the substitute data on thecontrol command layer output bus 353 i that is connected to one of theinput signals of the mux-demux 353 along with a value on the controlsignal 353 c to select the output bus 353 i. In special cases, when thenon-data FIS must be changed or a completely new non-data FIS must besent, the arbitration and control circuit 340 generates a correspondingsubstitute task file and provides the substitute task file on thecontrol task file output bus 354 i that is connected to one of the inputsignals of the mux-demux 354 along with a value on the control signal354 c to select the output bus 354 i.

Special cases that require changing data payload from the device includethe case of an identify drive response, which is generated in responseto an identify drive command from a host. The identify drive responseincludes 512 bytes (256 words) of data for providing predefinedcharacteristics of the device.

In particular, the identify drive response includes the devicecapability for supporting queuing and a queue depth. As an example, bit1 of word 83 of the identify drive response indicates if the Read/WriteDMA queued commands (known to those of ordinary skill in the art) aresupported, and bit 8 of word 76 of the identify drive response indicatesif native queue commands (known to those of ordinary skill in the art)are supported and bits 0 through 4 of word 75 of the identify driveresponse include the value of queue depth minus one.

In one application, command queuing can be disabled by intercepting theidentify drive response and replacing the queue depth value with zeroand resetting bit 8 of word 76. In active switch applications thatsupport queuing, the queue depth reported to each host must be alteredso that the hosts do not send more commands than the device can support.

In the embodiment of FIG. 6, the arbitration and control circuit 340intercepts the identify drive response sent from the device and replacesthe original value in bits 0 through 4 of word 75 with a new generatedvalue, representing a queue depth value, which is one half of theoriginal queue depth value.

In the case where the original value represents an odd value as thequeue depth, the new value represents a queue depth value which is onehalf of the original queue depth value after subtracting one. Asmentioned above, the value in bits 4 through 0 of word 75 (75[4:0])(this notation represents bit 0 through bit 4 of a 16-bit word 75)represents the queue depth value minus one. The operation of generatinga new value for 75[4:0] is performed by bitwise shifting the originalvalue of 75[4:0] and then conditionally subtracting a one if theoriginal value of 75[4:0] represents an even value (the leastsignificant bit (75[0]) is zero). The arbitration and control circuit340 generates the new value on the control command layer output bus 353i and sets the value on the control signal 353 c in accordance with theselection of the bus 353 i, which is demultiplexed and then provided asinput to the mux-demux 353.

Word 255 of the identify drive response is an integrity word. The use ofthis word is optional. If bits 7 through 0 of the word 255 (255[7:0],(this notation represents bit 0 through bit 7 of a 16-bit word) containthe value A5 (in hexadecimal notation), bits 15 through 8 of word 255include a checksum which is the two's complement of the sum of all ofthe bytes in words 0 through 254 and the byte consisting of bits 0through 7 in word 255. When the checksum is used and the arbitration andcontrol circuit modifies part of the identify drive response, thearbitration and control circuit additionally modifies the checksum toreflect the correct value and then generates the new checksum andprovides the same onto the control command layer output bus 353 i andsets the value on the control signal 353 c to select the bus 353 i.

The operation of the active switch for supporting legacy and nativecommand queuing of SATA protocol will now be described. However, a briefdescription of legacy and native command queuing between a host and adevice will first be presented.

A legacy Read/Write DMA Queued Command (LQ CMD) includes a host taghaving a value between decimal integers 0 and 31 regardless of the queuedepth. The number of outstanding legacy Read/Write DMA Queued commandscan not exceed the queue depth. If the host sends a LQ CMD command withan invalid host tag value then the device responds with an errorcondition. An example of such a case is when the queue depth isexceeded. After the host sends a LQ CMD command, the host waits for aresponse thereto from the device. The response from the device includesthe following cases:

-   -   The device sends a Register FIS 40(ii) wherein the REL bit in        the Register FIS 40(ii) is set (equals logical 1) and the SERV        bit in the Register FIS 40(ii) is reset (equals logical 0) to        indicate that the device has queued the command and the command        is “released”. “Released” is the case wherein the device        disconnects (“disconnecting”, “connecting”, and “reconnecting”,        are as defined in the Serial ATA specification referred to by        reference herein above) after queueing the command for        subsequent processing, and reconnects at a later time to        complete the command. When the command is released, the host is        allowed to send another legacy Read/Write DMA Queued command as        long as the queue depth is not exceeded;    -   The device sends a Register FIS 40(ii) wherein both the REL bit        and the SERV bit in the Register FIS 40(ii) are set, to indicate        that the device has queued the command and is ready to service a        queued command;    -   The device sends a Data FIS 40(vii) or a DMA Activate FIS        40(iii) to indicate that the device is executing the command;    -   The device sends a Register FIS 40(ii) wherein the BSY bit in        the Register FIS 40(ii) is reset and the ERR bit in the Register        FIS 40(ii) is set to indicate that an error occurred; or    -   When the device is ready to reconnect to the host, the device        sends a Set Device Bit FIS 40(v) or Register FIS 40(ii) to the        host wherein the SERV bit in the Set Device Bit FIS 40(v) or        Register FIS 40(ii) is set. The host responds thereto with a        SERVICE command and the device sends a Register FIS 40(ii) back        to the host including the host tag value. At this point, the        host and the device are reconnected and command execution        resumes. If the host sends a non-queue command or native queue        command when the device has a non-empty queue of legacy queue        commands, the queued commands are aborted.

In the case of native queue commands (NQ CMDS), the host tag values arerestricted to values between 0 and the queue depth minus one(queue_depth_minus_one). After the host sends a native queue command,the host waits for a Register FIS 40(ii) from the device. If the BSY bitand the DRQ in the Register FIS 40(ii) are reset, then the Register FISfrom the device indicates that the command is queued and the command isreleased. If the BSY bit in the Register FIS 40(ii) is reset and ERR bitin the Register FIS 40(ii) is set, then the Register FIS 40(ii) from thedevice indicates that an error occurred. If the command is released, thehost can send another native queue command as long as the queue depth isnot exceeded. When the device is ready to reconnect to the host, thedevice sends a DMA Setup FIS40(iv) which includes the host tag value.

At this point, the host and the device are reconnected and commandexecution resumes. The device sends completion status via the Set DeviceBits FIS 40(v). The Sactive field 40(v)(ii) of the Set Device Bits FIS40(v) has 32 bits and each bit corresponds to a tag (bit 0 correspond totag value 0, bit 1 corresponds to tag value 1, and so on). A bit set inthe Sactive field 40(v)(ii) of the Set Device Bits FIS 40(v) isindicative of corresponding queued commands having been completed. Ifthe ERR in the Set Device Bits FIS 40(v) bit is not set, the commandshave completed successfully without error. If the host sends a non-queuecommand or a legacy queue command when the device has a non-empty queueof native queue commands, the queued commands are aborted.

Since both hosts may use the same tag values, the switch maps the hosttag values to a different value to be able to distinguish between thehosts when the device is reconnecting. When the switch of one of theembodiments of the present invention receives a queue command, the hosttag is mapped to a unique device tag such that the host and the originalhost tag are identified when the device is reconnecting.

In the case of legacy queue commands, when the switch 300 receives fromthe device a Set Device Bits FIS 40(v) wherein the SERV bit in the SetDevice Bits FIS 40(v) is set or Register FIS 40(ii) wherein the SERV bitin the Register FIS 40(ii) is set, the switch 300 can not forward theSet Device Bits FIS 40(v) since the tag value of the command that thedevice needs to service is not yet available. In order to obtain the tagvalue, the switch 300 sends a SERVICE command to the device, the deviceresponds with a Register FIS 40(ii) including the tag. The switch 300then remaps the tag to identify the host and the original host tagvalue. If there is no legacy queue command pending from the host in theswitch 300, the switch then sends Set Device Bits FIS 40(v) to the hostwith the SERV bit set. If there is a legacy queue command pending in theswitch, the switch 300 stores the command in pending task file 344 andwhen the device is ready to release the pending legacy queue command,the device responds with a Register FIS 40(ii) wherein the REL bit andthe SERV bit in the Register FIS 40(ii) are set. When the host respondswith a SERVICE command, the switch 300 responds with a Register FIS40(ii) including the original host tag value.

In the case of native queue commands, when the switch 300 receives a DMASetup FIS 40(vi) from the device, the switch 300 first remaps the tag inthe DMA Setup FIS 40(iv)(ii) to identify the host and the original hosttag value and then forwards the DMA Setup FIS 40(iv)(ii), with the tagreplaced with the original host tag, to the identified host.

In the case of native queue commands, when the switch 300 receives a SetDevice Bits FIS 40(v), from the device, which includes a Sactive field41 (shown in FIG. 1 d(v)), indicating the status of completion of thenative queue commands, the switch 300 generates a host 11 Sactive fieldand a host 12 Sactive field such that the host 11 Sactive field includesonly the tags in the Sactive field 41 that belong to the host 11 (shownin FIG. 3 a) and the host 12 Sactive field includes only the tags in theSactive field 41 that belong to the host 12 (shown in FIG. 3 a). Theswitch 300 forwards the Set Device Bits FIS 40(v) to the host 11 (shownin FIG. 3 a) with the Sactive field replaced with the host 11 Sactivefield and concurrently forwards the Set Device Bits FIS 40(v) to thehost 12 (shown in FIG. 3 a), with the Sactive field 41 replaced with thehost 12 Sactive field.

FIG. 8 a shows a flow chart of the operation of the switch 300 of FIG. 6for legacy queue commands.

In idle state 361, if a legacy queue command is received from eitherhosts or there is a pending legacy queue command in the Pending TaskFile 344, then the switch 300 changes state to the host-selection state363. Otherwise, if the Set Device Bits FIS 40(v) or the Register FIS40(ii) with the SERV bit set is received from the device 372, then theswitch 300 changes state to send service CMD state 373. Otherwise, theswitch remains in idle state 361.

In the host-selection state 363, the switch 300 arbitrates between thehosts and selects the host whose pending command will be subsequentlyforwarded to the device. The pending command includes a selected hosttag. The switch 300 then changes state to the send-LQ CMD state 364.

In the send-LQ CMD state 364, the switch 300 first maps the selected LQhost tag to a send device tag, replaces the selected LQ host tag withthe send device tag and then forwards the pending command to the device.The switch 300 then changes state to wait for device response state 365.The send device tag refers to a tag that is sent to the device by theswitch 300.

In the wait for device response state state 365, if the device responseis received, then the switch 300 changes state to thecheck-device-response state 366. Otherwise, the switch 300 remains inthe wait for device response state state 365. In thecheck-device-response state 366, if the device response is Register FIS40(ii) with the REL bit set and the SERV bit set in the Register FIS40(ii), the switch 300 changes state to the disconnect/reconnect state366 b. Otherwise, if the device response is Register FIS 40(ii) with RELbit set and SERV bit reset, the switch 300 changes state to disconnectstate 366 d. Still Otherwise, if the device response is Data FIS 40(vii)or DMA Activate FIS 40(iii), the switch 300 changes state to the executestate 366 f. Yet otherwise, if the device response is Register FIS40(ii) with ERR bit set, the switch 300 changes state to the error state366 h. Still otherwise, the switch changes state to the discard state366 j and discards the received FIS and changes state to the idle State361.

In the disconnect/reconnect state 366 b, the switch 300 sends a RegisterFIS 40(iii) with the REL bit set and the SERV bit reset to select a hostand then changes state to send-service-CMD state 373. In the disconnectstate 366 d, the switch 300 sends a Register FIS with the REL bit setand the SERV bit reset to a selected host and then changes state to theidle state 361.

In the execute state 366 f, the switch 300 awaits completion of thecurrent command, the current command being the command that was sent inthe send LQ CMD state 364. After successful completion of the currentcommand, the switch 300 changes state to the idle State 361. Otherwise,the current command is terminated with error and then the switch 300changes state to the error state 366 h. In the error state 366 h, theswitch 300 performs error handling and after completion of the errorhandling, changes state to the idle state 361.

In the send-service CMD state 373, the switch 300 sends the service CMDto the device and changes state to the wait for device tag state 374.

While in the wait for the device tag state 374, if the device responseis received, the switch 300 changes state to the remap state 375,otherwise, the switch 300 remains in the wait for the device tag state374. In the remap state 375, the switch 300 remaps a receive device tag,the tag that is received from the device by the switch 300, to identifythe host and the original host tag and additionally, the switch 300replaces the receive device tag with the original host tag. If there isa pending queue CMD in the identified host task file, the switch 300changes state to the save state 376 b, otherwise, the switch 300 changesstate to the reconnect to the host state 376 a. In the reconnect to thehost state 376 b, the switch 300 sends a Set Device Bits FIS 40(v) withthe SERV bit set to an identified host (a host that was identified inthe remap state 375) and then changes state to the wait for the hostresponse state 377.

In the wait for the host response state state 377, if the identifiedhost's response is received, then the switch 300 changes state to thecheck-host-response state 378, otherwise, the switch 300 remains in thewait for the host response state 377. In the check-host-response state378, if the host response is a service command, the switch 300 changesstate to the send-tag-to-host state 378 b, otherwise, if the hostresponse is another LQ CMD, then the switch 300 changes state to theset-pending state 378 e, otherwise, the switch 300 changes state to theerror 2 state 378 d.

In the send tag to host state 378 b, the switch 300 sends a RegisterFIS, with the original host tag, to the identified host and changesstate to the reconnected state 379. In the set pending state 378 e, theswitch 300 sets a pending queue CMD flag to indicate that the host hassent another legacy queue command. In the save state 376 b, the switch300 saves the task file of the identified host in the pending task fileand then sends a Register FIS 40(v), with the SERV bit set and the RELbit set to the identified host.

In the disconnect/reconnect state 366 b, the reconnect to host state 376a, the save state 376 b, and the send tag to host state 378 b, amodified FIS or a new FIS are sent to the host. The arbitration andcontrol circuit 340 generates the task file corresponding to themodified FIS (or the new FIS) and transmits the same onto the controltask file output bus 354 i, which is connected to an input of themux-demux 354. The circuit 340 further sets the value of the controlsignal 354 c to select the bus 354 i and demultiplexes the same to serveas the output of the mux-demux 354.

In the send LQ CMD state 364, the send service CMD 373, the modified FIS(or the new FIS) are sent to the device. The arbitration and controlcircuit 340 generates the task file corresponding either to the modifiedFIS or to the new FIS on the device control task file output bus 352 i,which in turn is connected to one of the inputs of the multiplexer 352,as shown in FIG. 5, and sets the value of the select signal 352 s toselect the bus 352 i as the output of the multiplexer 352, which in turnis connected to the device task file input bus 336 i.

FIG. 8 b shows a flow chart of the operation of the switch 300 for thenative queue commands (NQ CMDs). In the idle state 381, a number ofdecisions may be made as shown at 382-386. At 382, if a native queuecommand is received from either hosts and the device has responded tothe previous NQ CMDs, then switch 300 changes state to thehost-selection state 382 a, otherwise, at 383, if the Register FIS, withthe ERR bit reset, is received from the device, then the switch 300changes state to the NQ-disconnect state 383 a. Otherwise, at 384, ifthe DMA Setup FIS 40(iv) is received from the device, then the switch300 changes state to the NQ-remap state 384 a. Still otherwise, at 385,if Set Device Bits FIS 40(v) is received, and at 385 a, the ERR bit inthe Set Device Bits FIS is reset, then the switch changes state to theNQ status state 385 b, otherwise, if the ERR bit is set, then the switch300 changes state to the NQ error state 386 a. If at 385, the Set DeviceBits FIS does not indicate completion status, at 386, if a DeviceRegister FIS, with the ERR bit set, is received, then the switch 300changes state to the NQ-error state 386 a, otherwise, the switch 300remains in the idle state 381.

In the host selection state 382 a, the switch 300 arbitrates between thehosts and selects the host whose pending command will be subsequentlyforwarded to the device in the send-NQ CMD state 382 b. The switch 300then changes state to the send NQ CMD state 382 b.

In the send NQ CMD state 382 b, the switch 300 first maps the selectedNQ host tag to a send device tag, replaces the selected NQ host tag withthe send device tag, forwards the command that was sent in send-NQ CMDstate 382 b to the device and sets a flag, “device_not_responded”, andchanges state to the idle state 381. The flag, “device_not_responded”,indicates that the device has not yet responded to a native queuecommand.

In the NQ disconnect state 383 a, the switch 300 causes the Register FISto be forwarded to the selected host, resets the flag“device_not_responded”, and then changes state to the idle state 381. Inthe NQ remap state 384 a, the switch 300 remaps the receive device tagto identify the host and the original host tag, and replaces the receivedevice tag with the original host tag in the DMA Setup FIS and sends theDMA Setup FIS to the identified host, and changes state to the NQreconnected state 384 b. In the NQ reconnected state 384 b, theidentified host is reconnected to the device, and the Data FIS istransferred between the reconnected host and the device. In the NQreconnected state 384 b, the switch 300 checks as to whether or not theDMA transfer count is exhausted at 384 c. If the DMA transfer count isnot exhausted, the switch 300 remains in the reconnected state 384 b,otherwise, the switch 300 changes state to idle state 381. In the NQstatus state 385 b, the switch 300 processes the status of successfullycompleted NQ CMDs, which is reported by the device in the Sactive field41 of the Set Device Bits FIS 40(v).

The switch 300 generates a host 11 Sactive field and a host 12 Sactivefield from the Sactive field 41 such that the host 11 Sactive fieldincludes only the tags in the Sactive field 41 that belong to the host11 and the host 12 Sactive field includes only the tags in the Sactivefield 41 that belong to the host 12. The switch 300 forwards the SetDevice Bits FIS to the host 11 with the Sactive field 41 replaced withthe host 11 Sactive field, and then forwards the Set Device Bits FIS tothe host 12 with the Sactive field 41 replaced with the host 12 Sactivefield. The switch 300 then changes to the idle state 381. In the NQerror state 386, the switch 300 performs error handling and aftercompletion of error handling, changes state to the idle state 381.

In the NQ remap state 384 a and the NQ status state 385 b, a modifiedFIS is sent to the host. The arbitration and control circuit 340generates the task file corresponding to the modified FIS or the new FISand transmits on control task file output bus 354 i, that is connectedto the second input of mux-demux 354 and sets the value on the controlsignal 354 c to select and demultiplex the bus 354 i to the selectedhost.

In the send NQ CMD state 364, a modified FIS is sent to the device. Thearbitration and control circuit 340 generates the task filecorresponding to the modified FIS and transmits on device control taskfile output bus 352 i that is connected to one of the inputs of themultiplexer 352 and sets the value on the select signal 352 s to selectthe bus 352 i as the output of multiplexer 352, which is connected tothe device task file input bus 336 i.

In one of the embodiments of the present invention, the device tag (senddevice tag and receive device tag) values are divided into two ranges, ahost 11 range and a host 12 range. In one embodiment of the presentinvention, the host 11 range includes tags from a minimum host 11 tagvalue to a maximum host 11 tag value, and the host 12 range includestags from a minimum host 12 tag value to a maximum host 12 tag valuewhere the minimum host 11 tag value is 0, and the maximum host 11 tagvalue is equal to the host queue depth minus one. The minimum host 12tag value is equal to host queue depth and the maximum host 12 tag valueis equal to 2*host_queue_depth−1, and the host queue depth is the valuereported to the host 11 and to the host 12 in response to the identifydrive command, which was discussed earlier.

For example, if the device supports a queue depth of 32, then the hostqueue depth that will be reported in response to the identify drivecommand will be 16, and the host 11 range will be tags from 0 to 15, andthe host 12 range will be from 16 to 31. In another example, if thedevice supports a queue depth of 31, then the host queue depth that willbe reported in response to identify drive command will be 15, and thehost 11 range will be tags from 0 to 14, and the host 12 range will betags from 15 to 30. Alternative embodiments with different queue depthfor the host 11 and the host 12 fall within the scope of presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 7 a, the arbitration and control circuit 340 comprisesa host arbitration circuit 343, Tag/Sactive mapping circuit 341, andcontrol circuit 342. The functions performed by the Tag/Sactive Mappingcircuit 341 include:

-   -   mapping a host tag to a send device tag and in the case of a        legacy queue tag saving the result of the mapping in a tag        memory, and keeping a list of the valid queue tags.    -   inverse mapping a receive device tag to identify the host and to        obtain the original host tag and in case of the LQ CMD,        invalidating queue tag when directed by the control circuit 342        at the completion of the command.    -   mapping a Sactive field 41 to a host 11 Sactive field and a host        12 Sactive field corresponding to the host 11 and to the host        12, respectively.

The host 11 task file output bus 316 o includes a host 11 FIS request318, which includes a host 11 FIS request indication and a queue commandindication. The host 11 FIS request indication is generated fromdecoding the write to the host 11 task file command or device controlregisters. The host 11 queue command indication is generated by decodingwriting a legacy or native queue command to the host 11 task filecommand register.

The host 12 task file output bus 326 o includes a host 12 FIS request328 which includes a host 12 FIS request signal and a queue commandsignal. The host 12 FIS request signal is generated from decoding writeto the host 12 task file command or device control registers. The host12 queue command signal is generated by decoding writing a legacy ornative queue command to the host 12 task file command register.

The host arbitration circuit 343 receives the host 11 FIS request 318,the host 12 FIS request 328, the control signals 343 c from controlcircuit 342, and the queue status signals 341 q from the Tag/Sactivemapping circuit 341. In response to the control signal 343 c from thecontrol circuit 342, the host arbitration circuit 343 generates a hostselect signal 343 hs that serves as input to the control circuit 342. Alogical zero on the host select signal 343 hs indicates that the host 11can send commands to the device and logical one indicates that the host12 can send commands to the device. The operation of host arbitration343 is described in Table 1.

The functions performed by the control circuit 342 include:

-   -   generating a select signal 351 s that controls the operation of        multiplexer 351;    -   generating a device control task file output bus 352 i that is        connected to an input of multiplexer 352, and a select signal        352 s that controls the operation of said multiplexer 352;    -   generating a control command layer output bus 353 i, that is        connected to an input of mux-demux 353, and a control signal 353        c which is the control signal for mux-demux 353;    -   generating a control task file output bus 354 i, connected to an        input of mux-demux 354, and a control signal 354 c that controls        the operation of said mux-demux 354;    -   generating control signal 343 c for host arbitration circuit        343;    -   generating control signals 341 ctl for Tag/Sactive mapping        circuit 341; and    -   generating control signal to save the identified host task file        in pending task file 344 and control operation of multiplexer        354.

FIG. 7 b shows the Tag/Sactive mapping circuit, used in one of theembodiments of the present invention. The Tag/Sactive Mapping circuit341 includes a tag memory 341 d, a valid LQT register 341 a forindicating whether or not the corresponding LQT is valid, a LQT map 341b, a NQT map 341 g, a NQT inverse map 341 f, a device tag multiplexer341 ml, a host tag multiplexer 341 m 2, a retrieve tag register 341 e,and a Sactive Map 341 s. The Tag/Sactive mapping circuit 341 inputsincludes device tag input 341 j, a host tag input 341 i, a Sactive input341 k, host queue depth input 341 qd, and a control bus 341 ctl. TheTag/Sactive mapping circuit 341 generates certain outputs including amapped host tag 341 dt, a retrieved host tag 341 ht, a host 11 Sactiveoutput bus 341 s 1 and a host 12 Sactive output bus 341 s 2.

In the case of native queue commands, the host tag values are restrictedbetween 0 and host_queue_depth_minus_one. The mapping and inversemapping is achieved using an adder/subtractor. The device tagscorresponding to the host 11 tag are the same as the host 11 tag and thedevice tags corresponding to the host 12 tags are equal to the host 12tag value plus the host queue depth.

This operation of mapping the NQ tag is performed by the NQT map 341 g.The NQT map 341 g receives a selected host tag input 341 i and a hostqueue depth 341 qd, and its output is connected to an input of thedevice tag multiplexer 341 m 1. If the selected host tag input 341 i isfrom the host 11 (signal 341 h is logical zero), then the output of theNQT map is equal to the selected host tag input 341 i, otherwise if thehost tag input 341 i is from the host 12 (signal 341 h is logical one),then the output of the NQT map is equal to the selected host tag input341 i plus the host queue depth.

The inverse mapping for the NQ Tag is performed by the NQT inverse map341 f. The NQT inverse map 341 f receives a receive device tag input 341j, the host queue depth 341 qd, and its output 341 int includes a binaryvalued signal that identifies the host (a logical zero indicates thehost 11 is identified and a logical 1 indicates the host 12 isidentified) concatenated with corresponding original host tag value. Theoutput 341 int is connected to an input of host tag multiplexer 341 m 2.If the receive device tag input 341 j is less than the host queue depth341 qd, then the output is equal to logical zero signal (indicating host11) concatenated with the device tag input 341 j, otherwise the output341 int is equal to logical one signal (indicating host 12) concatenatedwith the receive device tag 341 j minus the host queue depth 341 qd.

In the case of legacy queue commands, the host tag values are between 0and 31 regardless of the host queue depth. As mentioned above, thedevice tags from 0 to host_queue_depth_minus_one are assigned to thehost 11 range, and device tags from host_queue_depth to(2*host_queue_depth−1) are assigned to the host 12 range. A tag memoryunit 341 d is used to store the host tag values corresponding to thedevice tags. This reduces the complexity associated with the functionperformed by the reverse mapping in that the tag memory unit 341 d isaccessed at the address corresponding to the receive device tag.

The tag memory 341 d stores the host tags corresponding to the devicetags. In one of the embodiments of the present invention, the tag memory341 d has 32 entries, entry 0 (address 0) stores the host tagcorresponding to the device tag value 0, entry 1 (address 1) stores thehost tag corresponding to the device tag value 1 and so forth. Not allentries in the tag memory are valid. The tag memory 341 d is aconventional memory unit with separate read and write access ports. Thetag memory 341 d read access ports include a read address port, a readstrobe port, and read output port. The tag memory 341 d write accessports include a write input port, a write address port, and a writestrobe port. The tag memory 341 d read address port is connected to thereceive device tag input 341 j, the read strobe is connected to acontrol signal 341 rd, and the read output is connected to a tag memoryoutput bus 341 ilt. The tag memory 341 d write address port is connectedto output of LQT Map 341 lt, the write strobe port connected to controlsignal 341 wr, and write input bus connected to a bus formed byconcatenating control signal 341 h and selected host tag input 341 i. Avalid LQT entries 341 a includes a valid_lqt bit for every device tagvalue. When the value of valid_lqt_bit is logical 1, this indicates thatthe corresponding device tag value is used, whereas a logical value 0indictes that the corresponding device tag value is not used. Thevalid_lqt_bus 341 v is a bus including all valid_lqt_bits. Thevalid_lqt_bus 341 v is provided as input to LQT map 341 b. When thecontrol signal 341 h is at a logical 0, the LQT map 341 b finds thefirst tag value in the host 11 range that is not used and places it onLQT map output 341 lt. When the control signal 341 h is at a logical 1,the LQT map 341 b finds the first tag value in the host 12 range that isnot used and places it on the LQT map output 341 lt. The LQT map output341 lt is connected to an input of the device tag multiplexer 341 ml.The control signal 341 n selects the input of the host tag multiplexer341 ml that is placed on the device tag multiplexer output 341 dt. Whenthe control signal 341 wr is asserted, the values on the selected hosttag input 341 i and the control signal 341 h are written to the tagmemory 341 d at the entry corresponding to the LQT map output 341 lt andthe valid_lqt_bit corresponding to LQT map output 341 lt is set to alogical 1.

The inverse mapping for the LQ Tag is performed by accessing the tagmemory 341 d at an entry with an address equal to the receive device taginput 341 j. The receive device tag input 341 j is shown connected tothe read address port of tag memory 341 d and when the control signal341 rd is asserted, the tag memory 341 d is accessed and entry at theaddress corresponding to the receive device tag input 341 j is placed onto the output. The tag memory output 341 ilt is connected to an input ofthe host tag multiplexer 341 m 2. The control signal 341 n selects theinput of the host tag multiplexer 341 m 2 that is placed on the outputof the multiplexer 341 m 2. The output of the host tag multiplexer 341 m2 is saved in the retrieve tag_register 341 e. The retrieve_tag_registeroutput 341 ht includes a signal that indicates which host is theoriginal host and a corresponding host tag value.

The Sactive map 341 s receives the Sactive input 341 k and the hostqueue depth 341 qd and generates a host 11 Sactive output bus 341 s 1and a host 12 Sactive output bus 341 s 2. The bits 0 thru hostqueue_depth_minus_one of the Sactive input 341 k are placed incorresponding bits of the host 11 Sactive output bus 341 s 1, theremaining bits of the host 11 Sactive output bus 341 s 1 are reset(logical 0). The bits host queue_depth thru (2*host_queue_depth−1) ofthe Sactive input 341 k are placed in bits 0 thruhost_queue_depth_minus_one of the host 12 Sactive output bus 341 s 2,the remaining bits of the host 12 Sactive output bus 341 s 2 are reset(logical 0).

The operation of the host arbitration 343 is described in Table 1 below.As mentioned earlier, the host arbitration 343 uses a rotating priorityto select the host that can send commands to the device. Initially, thepriority is arbitrarily assigned to the host 11. The arbitration circuitkeeps track of the priority and performs arbitration to select the hostthat can send commands (FIS) to the device. When the device enters astate that accept another command, the arbitration circuit is notifiedand the arbitration circuit changes the priority to the other host.

The signals in Table 1 describing the operation of arbitration circuitare as follows:

-   -   H1_fis_req when set indicates that host 11 has a FIS request    -   H2_fis_req when set indicates that host 12 has a FIS request    -   H1_Qcmd when set indicates host 11 has issued a Queue command,        when reset a non-queue command    -   H2_Qcmd when set indicates host 12 has issued a queue command,        when reset a non-queue command    -   H1_Qempty when set indicates host 11 has an empty queue, when        reset a non-empty queue    -   H2_Qempty when set indicates host 12 has an empty queue, when        reset a non-empty queue

TABLE 1 Host Arbitration Operation H1_fis_req H2_fis_req H1_Qcmd H2_QcmdH1_Qempty H2_Qempty Host Arbitration Action 1 1 0 x x 1 1 Grant to host11 2 0 1 x x 1 1 Grant to host 12 3 1 1 0 0 1 1 Grant to host with thepriority, 4 1 1 0 1 1 1 Grant to host 11 5 1 1 1 0 1 1 Grant to host 126 1 1 1 1 1 1 Grant to host with the priority, 7 1 0 x x 0 1 Grant tohost 11 8 0 1 x 0 0 1 Grant is not issued⁽³⁾ 9 0 1 x 1 0 1 Grant to host12 10 1 1 0 0 0 1 Grant to host 11⁽¹⁾ 11 1 1 0 1 0 1 Grant to host 11⁽¹⁾12 1 1 1 0 0 1 Grant to host 11. Alternatively if legacy queue commandthen Grant to host 11, else if native queue command no Grant isissued⁽⁴⁾ 13 1 1 1 1 0 1 Grant to host with the priority 14 1 0 0 x 1 0Grant is not issued⁽³⁾ 15 1 0 1 x 1 0 Grant to host 11 16 0 1 x x 1 0Grant to host 12 17 1 1 0 0 1 0 Grant to host 12⁽²⁾ 18 1 1 0 1 1 0 Grantto host 12. Alternatively if legacy queue command Grant to host 12, elseif native queue command no Grant is issued⁽⁴⁾ 19 1 1 1 0 1 0 Grant tohost 12⁽²⁾ 20 1 1 1 1 1 0 Grant to host with the priority 21 1 0 0 x 0 0Grant to host 11⁽¹⁾ 22 1 0 1 x 0 0 Grant to host 11 23 0 1 x 0 0 0 Grantto host 12⁽²⁾ 24 0 1 x 1 0 0 Grant to host 12 25 1 1 0 0 0 0 Grant tohost with the priority 26 1 1 0 1 0 0 Grant to host 12 27 1 1 1 0 0 0Grant to host 11 28 1 1 1 1 0 0 Grant to host with the priority 29 0 0 xx x x Grant is not issued. Notes: ⁽¹⁾Host 11 issues a non-queue commandwhile it has a non-empty queue. The Switch will forward the command toDevice. In response to receipt of non-queue command with non-empty queuethe Device will set Error (ERR). Receipt of Error with non-empty queuewill cause the Switch to flush non-empty queue commands and sending ERRstatus to Hosts with non-empty queue. ⁽²⁾Host 12 issues a non-queuecommand while it has a non-empty queue. The Switch will forward thecommand to Device. In response to receipt of non-queue command withnon-empty queue the Device will set Error (ERR). Receipt of Error withnon-empty queue will cause the Switch to flush non-empty queue commandsand sending ERR status to Hosts with non-empty queue. ⁽³⁾Since the Hostsending the non-queue command has an empty queue and the other Host hasa non-empty queue sending the non-queue command will cause the Device toset Error and result in queue being Flushed. Therefore when the sendingHost has and empty queue and sends a non-queue command while the otherHost has a non-empty queue the command is held until the other Hostqueue is emptied. ⁽⁴⁾As mentioned earlier when a Host with an emptyqueue issues a non-queue command while the other Host has a non-emptyqueue, the non-queue command is held until the queue is emptied. In thiscase in order to allow the queue to empty when the Host with non-emptyqueue sends another queue command it is desirable to hold the newlyreceived queue command until the queue is emptied and the non-queuecommand is sent. In the case of a Legacy Queue Command it is notpractical to hold the newly received legacy queue command, since theSwitch has to release it when the Device is reconnecting. However thislimitation does not apply to native queue command, and in case of nativequeue command

The active switch 300 of FIG. 6 was described hereinabove using anarbitration algorithm based on rotating priority. Alternativeembodiments using different arbitration algorithms fall within the truespirit and scope of the present invention. Such alternative arbitrationalgorithms include, but are not limited to, arbitration algorithms thatprovide bandwidth to each host based on static or dynamic weights(weight is the ratio of “allocated bandwidth to a host” to a “totalavailable bandwidth”). Such arbitration algorithms use a method formeasuring bandwidth such as, but not limited to, average transfer count(number of user data) per command, in the arbitration algorithm.

In layer 4, switching the received frame is processed from layer 1 up tolayer 4 of the first protocol stack and then passed to layer 4 of thesecond protocol stack and then processed from layer 4 down to layer 1 ofthe second protocol stack. In order to reduce the circuitry associatedwith the switch 300 as well as to reduce the delay through the switch300 several changes have been introduced in accordance with anembodiment of present invention. Theses changes are summarized anddescribed in more detail below.

-   -   The host protocol stack and device protocol stack share the same        Data FIS FIFO    -   Avoid sending task file form layer 4 to another layer 4, by        sending FIS from layer 3 to layer 3 thereby reducing delay        through the switch

FIG. 9 shows a SATA level 3 port 410, used in the embodiments of theactive switch 500 (FIG. 10 a). SATA level 3 port 410 includes a PLcircuit 411, a LL circuit 412, and a TL circuit 413. The PL circuit 411comprises an Analog Front End circuit (AFE) 411 a, a Phy/Link interfacecircuit 411 e, a Phy Initialization State Machine (Phy ISM) 411 b and anOOB detector 411 c. The PL circuit 411 is shown connected to theoutbound high speed differential transmit signals 411 tx and the inbounddifferential receive signals 411 rx. The PL circuit 411 is shownconnected to the LL circuit 412 via a link transmit bus 412 t and a linkreceive bus 412 r. The OOB detector 411 c detects OOB signals andtransmits OOB detected signals on 411 o. A multiplexer 411 d controlledby the Phy ISM 411 b selects the transmit data 411 t or Phy ISM output411 s for transmission. The Phy ISM 411 b control signals includesignals 411 i. The LL circuit 412 is shown connected to the PL circuit411 via a link transmit data bus 412 t and a link receive data bus 412r. The LL circuit 412 provides power down states and power down requeston the signal 412 p. The LL circuit 412 is shown connected to the TLcircuit 413 via a transport transmit bus 413 t, a transport receive bus413 r, and a transport control/status bus 413 c. The TL circuit 413comprises of FIS Holding Registers 413 a and a multiplexer 413 b. The TLcircuit 413 does not include the Data FIS FIFO. The Data FIS FIFO 415 aand associated FIFO Control 415 b are moved out of the TL circuit 413and are generally located externally to the SATA level 3 port 410. Thismodification of the TL circuit, i.e. moving the FIFO and FIFO controlphysically externally to the TL circuit is key in reducing the number ofFIFOs and reducing the delay associated with the active switch. The SATAlevel 3 port 410 is shown connected to the external Data FIS FIFO 415 avia a FIFO input bus 415 i and a FIFO output bus 415 o. The SATA level 3410 port is shown connected to an external FIFO control 415 b via a FIFOcontrol bus 415 c and a FIFO status bus 415 s. The FIS input bus 416 iand a holding FIS output bus 416 o (collectively the “FIS busstructure”) of the SATA level 3 port 410 provide additional input andoutput interfaces externally. In the embodiment of FIG. 9, the Data FISFIFO includes only the payload of the Data FIS, the first Dword of DataFIS will be on the FIS input or output bus. The FIS bus structure allowspassing non-Data FIS and the first transmitted Dword of Data FIS amongSATA ports at layer 3 without passing FIS through layer 4. The externalFIFO architecture allows passing the payload of the Data FIS among theSATA ports without passing the payload of the Data FIS through the layer4. In an alternative embodiment, the Data FIS FIFO includes the completeData FIS including the first Dword of the Data FIS. The FIS input busand the holding FIS output bus generally include non-Data FIS.

FIGS. 10 a and 10 b show block diagrams of another embodiment of theactive switch 500 of present invention. One of the features of thearchitecture of the active switch 500 is use of a common FIFO 555 a, 555b for passing payload of Data FIS among the SATA ports without passingData through the layer 4, thus reducing the delay associated with theswitch as well as the number of FIFOs. Another feature of the activeswitch 500 is the FIS bus structure that allows passing non-Data FIS andfirst Dword of Data FIS among SATA ports at layer 3 without passing FISthrough the layer 4, thereby reducing the delay thru the active switch500.

Referring to FIG. 10 a, the active switch 500 comprises a SATA level 3host port 510, a SATA level 3 host port 520, a SATA level 3 device port530, a Data FIS FIFO 555 a, a FIFO Control 555 b, a data multiplexer 551a, a control multiplexer 551 b, a data multiplexer 553, a host FIScircuit 542, a device FIS circuit 543, and an arbitration and controlcircuit 541. The SATA level 3 ports 510, 520 and 530 architecture is thesame as the architecture of SATA level 3 port 410 described above andshown in FIG. 9. The host FIS circuit 542 comprises a host FIS registers514 a, host FIS registers 524 a, a pending host FIS registers 542 b anda host FIS multiplexer 542 a. The host FIS output 517 o, the host FISoutput 527 o, and the pending host FIS output 542 p are shown connectedto inputs of the multiplexer 542 a. The output of the host FISmultiplexer 542 a is shown connected to the host FIS output bus 542 o.The device FIS circuit 543 comprises a device FIS registers 534 a, adevice FIS mux-demux 543 a, and a device FIS multiplexer 543 b. Thedevice FIS output 537 o, a FIS bus 543 i, and a sub-FIS bus 543 j areshown connected to the inputs of the device FIS mux-demux 543 a. Themux-demux 543 a's first output is the host FIS input bus 516 i, and themux-demux 543 a's second output is the host FIS input bus 526 i. Acontrol signal 543 k controls the operation of device FIS mux-demux 543a. The host FIS output bus 542 o, a FIS bus 543 m, and a sub-FIS bus 543n are shown connected to the inputs of the device FIS multiplexer 543 b.The device FIS multiplexer output 543 d is shown connected to the deviceFIS input bus 536 i. The device FIS multiplexer select signal 543 scontrols the operation of multiplexer 543 b.

Referring to FIG. 10 c, the mux-demux 543 a operation is a two levelmultiplexing followed by a demultiplexing. At the first levelmultiplexing, as indicated by the control signal 543 k, either thedevice FIS output bus 537 o or the FIS bus 543 i is selected and passedto a second level multiplexing where if it is indicated by controlsignal 543 k, then a portion of the output of the first levelmultiplexing is substituted with the sub-FIS bus 543 j and the result ofsecond level multiplexing is demultiplexed to the two outputs of themux-demux 543 a. The control signal 543 k includes control signals forthe multiplexing and demultiplexing functions. The demultiplexingfunction passes the result of the second level multiplexing to theselected output and sets the other output of the mux-demux 543 a to aninactive level. The multiplexer 543 b operation is a two levelmultiplexing, at the first level, as indicated by the control signal 543s, either the host FIS output bus 542 o or the FIS bus 543 m is selectedand is passed to the second level of multiplexing where it is placedonto the output 543 d, or otherwise, as indicated by the control signal543 s, a portion of the output of the first level multiplexing issubstituted with the sub-FIS bus 543 n and then placed on the output 543d.

Referring to FIG. 10 a, the Data FIS FIFO 555 a is a dual ported FIFO,including a Data FIFO input 555 a(i 1), a Data FIFO output 555 a(o 1), aData FIFO input 555 a(i 2) and a Data FIFO output 545 a(o 2). The FIFOcontrol 555 b includes a FIFO control input 555 b(i 1), FIFO statusoutput 555 b(o 1) providing control and status of the Data FIFO port 555a, a control input 555 b(i 2) and a FIFO status output 555 b(o 2)providing control and status of the Data FIFO port 555 b. The SATA level3 host port 510 is shown connected to the outbound high speeddifferential transmit signals 511 tx and the inbound differentialreceive signals 511 rx. The host FIFO output bus 515 o is shownconnected to the multiplexer 551 a. The host FIFO input bus 515 i isshown connected to the Data FIFO output port 555 a(o 1). The host FIFOcontrol bus 515 c and the FIFO status bus 515 s are shown connected tothe multiplexer 551 b and to the FIFO status port 555 b(o 1),respectively.

The host holding FIS output bus 516 o is shown connected to an input ofhost FIS registers 514 a. The output of mux-demux 543 a is shownconnected to the host FIS input bus 516 i. The SATA level 3 host port520 is shown connected to the outbound high speed differential transmitsignals 521 tx and the inbound differential receive signals 521 rx. Thehost FIFO output bus 525 o is shown connected to the multiplexer 551 a.The host FIFO input bus 525 i is shown connected to the Data FIFO outputport 555 a(o 1). The host FIFO control bus 525 c and the FIFO status bus525 s are shown connected to the multiplexer 551 b and to the FIFOstatus port 555 b(o 1), respectively. The host holding FIS output bus526 o is shown connected to the input of the host FIS registers 524 a.The host FIS input bus 526 i is shown connected to an output ofmux-demux 543 a.

The SATA level 3 device port 530 is shown connected to the outbound highspeed differential transmit signals 531 tx and the inbound differentialreceive signals 531 rx. The device FIFO output bus 535 o is shownconnected to the multiplexer 553. The device FIFO input bus 535 i isshown connected to the Data FIFO output port 555 a(o 2). The device FIFOcontrol bus 535 c and the device FIFO status bus 535 s are shownconnected to FIFO control port 555 b(i 2) and to the FIFO status port555 b(o 2), respectively. The device holding FIS output bus 536 o isshown connected to the input of device FIS registers 534 a. The deviceFIS input bus 536 i is shown connected to the device FIS multiplexeroutput 543 d.

The arbitration and control circuit 541 receives the host 11 FIS outputbus 517 o, the host 12 FIS output bus 527 o, the host FIS output bus 542o, and the device FIS output bus 537 o. The arbitration and controlcircuit 541 generates a select signal 551 s to select the active hostwhich is the control signal for multiplexer 551 a and 551 b. Thearbitration and control circuit 541 generates a control command layeroutput bus 553 i that is connected to an input of the multiplexer 553,and a select signal 553 s, which is the control signal for themultiplexer 553. The function of the bus 553 i is to replace the datafrom the device in certain cases which were described earlier.

The arbitration and control circuit 541 generates host FIS multiplexercontrol signals 542 s that control the operation of the multiplexer 542a to select one of the inputs of the multiplexer 542 a and to place theselected input on the output 542 o. The arbitration and control circuit541 generates a FIS bus 543 i and a sub-FIS bus 543 j that are connectedto inputs of the device FIS mux-demux 543 a. The circuit 541 alsogenerates a device FIS control signal 543 k that control the operationof said mux-demux 543 a. The arbitration and control circuit 541generates a FIS bus 543 m, a sub-FIS bus 543 n that are connected toinputs of device FIS multiplexer 543 b, and a device FIS select signal543 s that controls the operation of the multiplexer 543 b.

As described earlier, FIGS. 8 a and 8 b show flow charts of theoperation of the switch of the present invention for legacy queuecommands and native queue commands (NQ CMDs) respectively. FIGS. 8 a and8 b apply to the embodiment of FIGS. 10 a and 10 b of the switch 500 ofthe present invention.

In the disconnect/reconnect state 366 b, the save state 376 b, thesend-tag-to-host state 378 b, the NQ-remap state 384 a, and theNQ-status state 385 b, a modified FIS is sent to the host. Thearbitration and control circuit 541 transmits the modified FIS andplaces the same onto the sub-FIS bus 543 j that is connected to an inputthe of device FIS mux-demux 543 a. The circuit 541 also sets the valueon select signal 543 k to substitute a portion of the device FIS output537 o with sub-FIS bus 543 j and then demultiplexes to the outputs ofmux-demux 543 a which are connected to host FIS input buses.

In the reconnect-to-host state 376 a, a new FIS is sent to the host. Thearbitration and control circuit 541 transmits the new FIS on to the FISbus 543 i that is connected to an input of device FIS mux-demux 543 aand sets the value on the select signal 543 k to select the bus 543 iand then demultiplexes to the outputs of mux-demux 543 a which areconnected to host FIS input buses.

In the send LQ CMD state 364 and the send NQ CMD state 382 b, a modifiedFIS is sent to the device. The arbitration and control circuit 541generates the modified FIS and places the same onto a sub-FIS bus 543 nthat is connected to an input of the device FIS multiplexer 543 b andsets the value on the select signal 543 s to substitute a portion of thehost FIS output 542 o with the sub-FIS bus 543 n as the output ofmultiplexer 543 b. The output of multiplexer 543 b is connected to thedevice FIS input bus 536 i.

In the send-service-CMD state 373, a new FIS is sent to the device. Thearbitration and control circuit 541 transmits the new FIS on to a FISbus 543 m that is connected to an input of the device FIS multiplexer543 b and sets the value on the select signal 543 s to select the bus543 m as the output of multiplexer 543 b. The output of multiplexer 543b is connected to the device FIS input bus 536 i.

Referring to FIG. 10 b, the arbitration and control circuit541 comprisesa host arbitration circuit 544, a Tag/Sactive mapping circuit 546, and acontrol circuit 545.

The Tag/Sactive mapping circuit 546 is the same as that which is shownin FIG. 7 b and the functions performed by Tag/Sactive mapping circuit546 include:

-   -   mapping a selected host queue tag to a send device tag and in        the case of a legacy queue tag saving the result in a tag memory        341 d, and keeping a list of valid queue tags.    -   inverse mapping a receive device queue tag to identify the host        and obtaining the original host tag and in case of legacy queue        tag invalidate queue tag when directed by control circuit at the        completion of command.    -   mapping a Sactive field to the host 11 Sactive field and the        host 12 Sactive field corresponding to host 11 and host 2        respectively

The host 11 FIS output bus 517 o includes a host 11 FIS request 518,which includes the host 11 FIS request signal and the FIS type. The host12 FIS output bus 527 o includes a host 12 FIS request 528 whichincludes host 12 FIS request signal and the FIS type. The hostarbitration circuit 544 receives the host 11 FIS request 518, the host12 FIS request 528, control signals 544 c from the control circuit 545,and the queue status signals 546 q from the Tag/Sactive mapping circuit546. In response to the control signal 544 c from the control circuit545, the host arbitration circuit 544 generates a host select signal 544hs that serves as an input to the control circuit 545. The operation ofthe host arbitration 544 was described hereinabove with respect to Table1.

The functions performed by control circuit 545 include:

-   -   generating a select signal 551 s that controls the operation of        the multiplexers 551 a and 551 b    -   generating a control command layer output bus 553 i that is        connected to an input of multiplexer 553 and a select signal 553        s which is the control signal for the multiplexer 553    -   generating a FIS bus 543 i, and a sub-FIS bus connected to        inputs of device FIS mux-demux 543 a and a device control signal        543 k that controls the operation of the mux-demux 543 a.    -   generating a FIS bus 543 m and a sub-FIS bus connected to the        inputs of the device FIS multiplexer 543 b and a device FIS        multiplexer select signal 543 s that controls the operation of        the multiplexer 543 b    -   generating control signals for Tag/Sactive mapping circuit 546    -   generating control signals for host arbitration 544

The embodiment of the FIG. 10 b additionally includes the switchinitialization circuit 549 and a power down state and request signalsfrom the SATA ports.

The power down state and request signals 512 p of SATA level 3 port 510are shown connected to the control circuit 545. The OOB detector signals511 o of the SATA level 3 port 510 are shown connected to the switchinitialization circuit 549. The Phy ISM control signals 511 i of SATAlevel 3 port 510 are shown connected to the switch initializationcircuit 549.

The power down state and request signals 522 p of the SATA level 3 port520 are shown connected to the control circuit 545. The OOB detectorsignals 521 o of the SATA level 3 port 520 are shown connected to theswitch initialization circuit 549. The Phy ISM control signals 521 i ofthe SATA level 3 port 520 are shown connected to the switchinitialization circuit 549.

The power down state and request signals 532 p of the SATA level 3 port530 are shown connected to the control circuit 545. The OOB detectorsignals 531 o of SATA level 3 port 530 are shown connected to the switchinitialization circuit 549. The Phy ISM control signals 531 i of theSATA level 3 port 530 are shown connected to the switch initializationcircuit 549. The switch initialization circuit 549 is the same as theswitch initialization circuit 244 of FIG. 5. The function performed bythe switch initialization circuit 549 can be distributed to the SATA PLcircuits within the SATA ports 510, 520, and 530. Alternativeembodiments that distribute the functions of the switch initializationcircuit 549 to the SATA PL circuits within the SATA ports 510, 520, and530 fall within the scope of present invention.

It is obvious to one of ordinary skill the art to extend embodiments ofan SATA active switch of the present invention to SATA to an ATA ActiveSwitch. FIGS. 11 a and 11 b show such embodiments of SATA to ATA activeswitch that allow concurrent access by two hosts connected to a switchvia a SATA link to a storage unit connected to a switch via an ATA link.

FIG. 11 a shows an embodiment of SATA to ATA switch 600 according to thepresent invention. The switch 600 is the same as the switch 300 of FIG.6 with the following differences:

-   -   The SATA level 4 device port 330 in switch 300 is replaced with        a SATA layer 4 to ATA Bridge 630    -   The SATA link 331 tx, 331 rx in switch 300 are replaced with an        ATA link 636.

The SATA layer 4 to ATA Bridge 630 comprises a SATA Command layer 634, aATA Transport Layer 633, and a ATA Interface Bridge 632. The ATAInterface Bridges 632 is shown connected to the ATA link 636 andconverts (bridges) the activity on the ATA bus 636 to the activity onthe Transport layer interface 633 io and visa versa. The SATA CommandLayer 634 and Transport Layer 633 are the same as the Command Layer 54and the Transport Layer 53 of FIG. 2 b.

FIG. 11 b shows another embodiment of SATA to ATA switch 700 accordingto an embodiment of the present invention. The switch 700 is the same asthe switch 500 of FIG. 10 a with the following differences:

-   -   The SATA level 3 device port 530 in switch 500 is replaced with        a SATA layer 3 to ATA Bridge 730    -   The SATA link 531 tx, 531 rx in switch 500 are replaced with an        ATA link 736.

The SATA layer 3 to ATA Bridge 730 comprises a SATA Transport Layer 733,and a ATA Interface Bridge 732. The ATA Interface Bridge 732 isconnected to the ATA link 736 and converts (bridges) the activity on theATA bus 736 to the activity on the Transport layer interface 733 io andvisa versa. The Transport Layer 733 is the same as the Transport Layer413 of FIG. 9.

Embodiments of FIGS. 11 a and 11 b have been described using parallelATA bus. It is obvious to one skilled in the art that the invention canbe extended to use other parallel buses. The scope of present inventionincludes using other parallel buses in addition to a parallel ATA bus.

FIG. 12 shows a modification to the SATA FIS organization to providerouting information. That is, in accordance with yet another embodimentof the present invention, the SATA port includes a route aware frameinformation structure for identifying which host is the origin and whichis the destination. As shown in FIG. 1 d, the SATA FIS organization hasfew reserved bits in the first Dword (Dword 0) of the FIS, specificallybits 8 thru 12 of Dword 0. By using one of these reserved bits toindicate which host is the origin or destination of the FIS, the routingin the switch is greatly simplified. This routing bit will be referredto as H-bit (91(i), 91(ii), 91(iii), 91(iv), 91(v), 91(vi), 91(vii) and91(viii)) a logical value of zero indicates that the host 11 and alogical value of one indicates that the host 12 is the origin ordestination of the FIS depending on the FIS direction. Thus, the deviceidentifies which one of the hosts is an origin and/or destination sothat routing of FIS is transparent to the switch thereby reducing thecomplexity of the design of the switch rendering its manufacturing lessexpensive, thus, providing ‘route aware’ routing through the switch.

When the switch is sending a FIS to the device, the switch resets theH-bit to a logical value of zero if the FIS originated from the host 11and sets the H-bit to a logical value of one if the FIS originated fromthe host 12. The device has to save the H-bit and insert it in any FISthat is sent to the host. With a route aware FIS structure, thecomplexity of the active switch can be reduced to a layer 2 switch. Thelayer 2 switch of FIG. 5 can be modified to operate as an active switchwith a route aware FIS structure. In one such modification, the activehost selection circuit 141 of switch 200 is modified to examine theH-bit of inbound FIS from the device and route it to the proper host bygenerating control signals for path selection based on the H-bit of theincoming FIS.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described using adual port FIFO. It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that asingle port FIFO can be used with additional circuitry to replace a dualport FIFO. Furthermore, some of the buses in the embodiment that areinput or output can be combined to be a single bidirectionalinput/output bus. Additionally, buses that are dedicated to one functioncan be combined into a single bus.

To summarize, in an embodiment of the present invention, two hosts, host1 and host 2, such as host 11 and host 12 in FIG. 3 a, coupled to astorage unit for writing and reading information thereto and from, seekconcurrent access to a storage unit (such as the storage unit 16, shownin FIG. 3 a) through a switch, such as switches 300 and 500 of FIGS. 6and 10 a, respectively. This is an important difference with that ofprior art systems because while in the prior art, two hosts have accessto the storage unit, they cannot concurrently access the same. In theprior art, if a connection between one of the hosts to the storage unitfails for some reason, the other host can continue to access the storageunit. However, switching to the other host, after the detection of afailure, causes a glitch in that the system needs to be reset prior tothe other host's communication with the storage unit.

In yet other prior art systems, such as fault-tolerant systems, one hostshadows the other host, that is whatever the active host is doing isattempted to be mimicked by the inactive host. This concept is called“heartbeat” indicating a connectivity between the two hosts to theextent both hosts are aware of each other's presence and that the otheris operational. That is, one host realizes the failure by the other hostin the event this “heartbeat” is no longer detected at which time thehost that has performed the detection takes over accessing the storageunit and continues to operate without the other host. Yet such prior artsystems require using a dual ported storage unit and can not use asingle ported storage unit since the hosts are not capable of accessingthe storage unit concurrently as done by the present invention.

Within enterprise systems, there is a great need for the embodiments ofthe present invention because multiple hosts are required to access asingle ported storage unit at the same time. In the present invention,commands are transferred from the hosts to the storage unit concurrentlyas are other types of information. The present invention eliminates anyglitches caused by switching from an active to an inactive host, asexperienced by some prior art systems described hereinabove. In fact, inthe present invention, switching between the two hosts is performed in acontinuous and smooth fashion.

Hardware is essentially structured to follow the layers of SATA. TheSATA physical layer includes an analog front end for transmitting andreceiving high speed signals. An initialization state machine is alsoincluded along with an out-of-band detector and an interface block forinterfacing with the link layer. A selection device selects whether tosend initialization information or data from the physical layer. Thelink layer communicates with the transport layer, which typicallyincludes a FIFO used for data transfer and a set of registers employedfor non-data FIS exchange. The FIFO is generally used for storing dataFIS while registers are generally used to store non-data FIS.

As shown in FIG. 4, in one of the systems of the prior art, there is aphysical layer for one host, another physical layer for the other hostand a physical layer for the device or storage unit used by a switchthat is coupled between the hosts and the device. None of the otherlayers are in communication with the hosts and/or device. Through thephysical layer, one of the hosts is selected by a multiplexer forcommunicating with the device and then the device sends data to thatactive host. An active host selection circuit decides or selects whichhost is initially selected along with an initialization circuit. Thus,this prior art switch only needs layer one or the physical layer tocommunicate, no other layers are needed for communications. However, asnoted earlier, one of the problems with such a prior art system is thedelay through the switch. Another problem is that only one host cancommunicate with the device at any given time.

One of the embodiments of the present invention seeks to solve theproblem of the delay through the switch, as shown in FIG. 5. The delaythrough the switch is not a problem because the second layer of the SATAlink is employed as opposed to only the first layer. The switch isactually a layer 2 switch, thus, capable of communicating within thelink layer as well as the physical layer. The data from the host linklayers are multiplexed but prior to being sent to the device, they arestored in a FIFO so as to be buffered in the event the delay through theswitch is longer than that which is allowed by the serial ATA standardin which case, in prior art systems, this data would have been lost dueto the long delay. However, in the embodiment of FIG. 5, the FIFObuffering prevents any data loss even if the delay through the switch islonger than the requirements of the standard. Subsequently, data fromthe device is routed to the active host by the use of the demultiplexer243 (FIG. 5). Thus, in the embodiment of FIG. 5, while only one hostcommunicates with the device at any given time, the delay through theswitch 200 does not interfere with system performance and is inaccordance with the standard's requirements.

Alternatively, layer 1 or the physical layer may be employed with a FIFO(rather than just layer 1) used to render the delay through the switchnegligible, as done with the addition of layer 2 and describedhereinabove.

In FIG. 6, concurrent access by two hosts to a device is depicted.Concurrency, as used herein, indicates acceptance of commands, fromeither of two or more hosts, at any given time including when a device(such as a storage unit) is not in an idle state. Idle state is when thedevice is not processing other commands. Traditionally, concurrency isachieved by multiplexing each host at a given slice of time, or what iscommonly referred to as Time Division Multiplexing (TDM). However, thisdoes not work well for storage devices because one may be in the middleof data transfer when suddenly, the transfer is interrupted to serviceanother host due to a new time slice, or slot, occurring, which would bedevastating to system performance and may result in lost data.

Thus, command-based switching or multiplexing is employed by theembodiment of FIG. 6. That is, when a command from one host is beingprocessed, any commands from the other host are buffered and thereaftersent to the device after the current command is completed and so on,causing a ping-pong effect between the commands of the two hosts.

To effectuate command-based multiplexing, a task file is used in layer 4for the two hosts as well as the device. In FIG. 6, this is shown asports, the host ports and a device port are all layer 4 (or commandlayer) ports. The arbitration and control circuit 340 (FIG. 6) monitorsthe task file to check for any commands that might have been sent andthen the commands are prioritized and the highest priority command issent to the device. When a host port receives the command and has thepriority, it will send a command to the device port. In the meanwhile,if another command is received from another host, it is stored in thetask file and sent to the arbitration and control circuit and once theprevious command is serviced, the pending command is relayed to thedevice and this ping-pong effect goes on. It should be noted that thetiming requirements of the switch are met in the embodiment of FIG. 6because the transfer of information is occurring using layers 1-4 whichincludes a FIFO. Additionally, commands can be sent concurrentlyallowing for concurrent transfer between two hosts and the device.

Further details of the arbitration and control circuit 340 of FIG. 6 areprovided in the remaining figures of this document and discussedthroughout the same.

The device sends information about its capabilities in response to“Identify Drive Command” and some of the parameters indicated by thedevice can be changed by the switch. For example, if the device supportscommand queuing, it has a queue depth indicating how many commands itcan queue and then this information becomes important to the hosts. Forexample, if the queue depth indicates that only 32 commands can bequeued, any number of commands exceeding this number, by both hosts,will overrun and result in commands being lost, as only 16 commands perhost can be queued. Thus, the queue depth information is altered toindicate 16 rather than 32 so that each host only queues 16 commands.

The way this is done practically is to intercept the Q DEPTH informationcoming from the device and to change its value from 32 to 16.Additionally, a queue tagging circuitry for mapping the host tag andremapping device tag is employed

Throughout this document, where a mux-demux circuit is used ordiscussed, it is referring to first selecting between two or moresignals, thus, performing the muxing function and later routing theselected signal to the active host, thus, performing the demuxingfunction.

In the embodiment of FIG. 6, three FIFOs are employed, one in each hostand a third in the device. This introduces delays.

In an alternative embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, only one FIFOis used where a FIFO is taken out of the transport layer. Rather, a FISinterface is used in layer 3, which makes for a less complex design andless delays due to FIFOs. A FIFO is shared by all three ports, the hostports and the device port.

In FIG. 11, layers 1 and 2 are replaced with a non-serial ATA port suchas an ATA port thereby enabling use of storage units using non-serialATA standard improving system cost using lower cost storage units in thesystem.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the FIS structure isreplaced with a route aware FIS structure and a layer 2 switch isemployed thereby cutting through layers of processing.

Thus, four distinct embodiments are shown and discussed, one is forusing a layer 4 switching, another one is to bring down thecommunication to a different layer (layer 3) and introduces FIFOs toaccommodate such communication, yet another is to replace the serial ATAwith an ATA interface and the fourth is a route-aware FIS structure forswitching where the FIS structure is aware of the routing of informationto the different hosts.

It should be noted that while throughout this patent document,references are made to a particular polarity or logic state of a signal,such as logic state ‘1’ or ‘0’ to indicate active or inactive states ofa signal, that the opposite polarity may in fact be used withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the present invention.Furthermore, any other type of known states of signals may be utilizedwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

The capitalization of certain letters of names of signals, states,devices and so forth, as used throughout this patent document, are doneso to maintain consistency with names of corresponding signals, states,devices and so forth disclosed in the “Serial ATA: High Speed SerializedAt Attachment”, published by Serial ATA work group www.serialata.com,the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference as though setforth in full.

Although the present invention has been described in terms of specificembodiments it is anticipated that alterations and modifications thereofwill no doubt become apparent to those skilled in the art. It istherefore intended that the following claims be interpreted as coveringall such alterations and modifications as fall within the true spiritand scope of the invention. It is obvious to an expert in the art tocombine the present invention with prior art to develop devices andmethods that perform multiple functions including the teachings of thisinvention. Such devices and methods fall within the scope of presentinvention.

1. A switch coupled between a plurality of host units and a device forrouting frame information therebetween and comprising: a. first serialadvanced technology attachment (ATA) port including a first host taskfile responsive to a non-data frame information structure (FIS) from afirst host unit; b. a second serial ATA port including a second hosttask file, responsive to a non-data FIS from a second host unit; c. athird serial ATA port including a device task file responsive to anon-data FIS from a device, the device configured to support commandqueuing and operative to generate an original queue depth valueindicative of the number of commands that the device can queue fromeither of the first or second host units; and d. an arbitration andcontrol circuit coupled to said first host task file and said secondhost task file and said device task file for selecting one of the firsthost or second host units to concurrently access the device, through theswitch, by accepting non-data FIS, from either of the first or secondhost units, at any given time, including when the device is not in anidle state and whenever either one of the first or second host unitssends non-data FIS to the device and further wherein the non-data FIS ofthe first and second host units and the device identify which one of thefirst or second host units is an origin or destination host so thatrouting of non-data FIS is transparent to the switch thereby reducingthe complexity of the design of the switch rendering its manufacturingless expensive, the arbitration and control circuit being responsive tothe original queue depth value and operative to alter the original queuedepth value to be an altered original queue depth value so that if theoriginal queue value is odd, the altered original queue depth value isone half of the original queue depth value after subtracting one so thateach of the first and second host units is assigned less than the numberof commands indicated by the original queue depth value but that thetotal number of commands that can be queued by the first and second hostunits remains the same as the original queue depth value therebymisrepresenting the original queue depth value to the first and secondhost units to be less than that which it is thereby preventing commandsbeing lost by an overrun of the original queue depth value by either ofthe first or second host units.
 2. A switch as recited in claim 1wherein said device is a storage unit.
 3. A switch as recited in claim 1wherein said switch is employed in an enterprise system.
 4. A switch asrecited in claim 1 wherein said arbitration and control circuit causesconcurrent access of the device by the first and second host units.
 5. Aswitch as recited in claim 1 wherein a bit is used to indicate whichhost is the origin or destination of the non-data FIS.
 6. A switch asrecited in claim 1 wherein said first, second and third SATA ports arelayer 2 ports.
 7. A switch as recited in claim 1 wherein the switchprovides for ‘route aware’ routing.
 8. A switch as recited in claim 1wherein the switch further includes a dual ported first-in-first-out(FIFO).
 9. A switch, as recited in claim 1, wherein the queue depthvalue reported to each of the first and second host units is no morethan half of the original queue depth value.
 10. A switch, as recited inclaim 1, wherein in response to an identify drive command from either ofthe first or second host units, the arbitration and control circuit isconfigured to intercept an identify drive response, which is generatedby the device in response to the identify drive command, and to replacethe original queue depth value with a queue depth value that is no morethan one-half that reported by the device.
 11. A switch, as recited inclaim 10, wherein the identify drive response includes the identity ofthe first and second host units.
 12. A switch comprising: a. a firstserial advanced technology attachment SATA port including a first hosttask file for connection to a first host unit, said first SATA portresponsive to a non-data frame information structure (FIS) from thefirst host unit; b. a second SATA port including a second host task filefor connection to a second host unit responsive to a non-data FIS fromthe second host unit; c. a third SATA port including a device task fileresponsive to a non-data FIS, for connection to a device, the switch forrouting frame information between the first and second host units andthe device, the device operative to support command queuing and havingan original queue depth value indicative of the number of commands thatthe device can queue from either of the first or second host units; andd. an arbitration and control circuit coupled to said first host taskfile and said second host task file and said device task file forselecting either the first host unit or the second host unit toconcurrently access the device, through the switch, by acceptingnon-data FIS, from either of the first or second host units, at anygiven time, including when the device is not in an idle state, wheneither one of the first or second host units sends non-data FIS to thedevice, wherein while one of the first or second host units is coupledto the device, through the switch, the other one of the first or secondhost units sends non-data FIS to the switch for routing to the deviceand further wherein the non-data FIS of the first and second host unitsand the device identify which one of the first or second host units isan origin or destination host so that routing of non-data FIS istransparent to the switch thereby reducing the complexity of the designof the switch rendering its manufacturing less expensive, furtherwherein the arbitration and control circuit is responsive to theoriginal queue depth value and operative to alter the original queuedepth value into an altered queue depth value so that if the originalqueue value is odd, the altered original queue depth value is one halfof the original queue depth value after subtracting one so that each ofthe first and second host units is assigned less than the number ofcommands indicated by the original queue depth value but that the totalnumber of commands that can be queued by the first and second host unitsremains the same as the original queue depth value therebymisrepresenting the original queue depth value to the first and secondhost units to be less that that which it is so as to avoid commandsbeing lost by overrun of the original queue depth value by either of thefirst or second host units.
 13. A switch as recited in claim 12 whereinthe switch provides for ‘route aware’ routing.
 14. A switch as recitedin claim 12 wherein said device is a storage unit.
 15. A switch asrecited in claim 12 wherein said switch is employed in an enterprisesystem.
 16. A switch as recited in claim 12 wherein said arbitration andcontrol causes concurrent access of the device by the first and secondhost units.
 17. A switch, as recited in claim 12, wherein the queuedepth value reported to each of the first and second host units is nomore than half of the original queue depth value.
 18. A switch, asrecited in claim 12, wherein in response to an identify drive commandfrom either of the first or second host units, the arbitration andcontrol circuit is configured to intercept an identify drive response,which is generated by the device in response to the identify drivecommand, and to replace the original queue depth value with a queuedepth value that is no more than one-half that reported by the device.19. A switch, as recited in claim 18, wherein the identify driveresponse includes the identity of the first and second host units.
 20. Aswitch that is connectable to a first host unit, a second host unit anda device via serial advanced technology attachment (ATA) links, forrouting frame information between the first and second host units andthe device, said switch comprising: a. a first serial ATA port,including a first host task file for connection to a first host unit,said first SATA port responsive to a non-data frame informationstructure (FIS) from the first host unit; b. a second serial ATA port,including a second host task file for connection to a second host unit,responsive to a non-data FIS from the second host unit; c. a thirdserial ATA port including a device task file responsive to a non-dataFIS, for connection to a device, the device operative to support commandqueuing and having an original queue depth value indicative of thenumber of commands that the device can queue from either of the first orsecond host units; d. an arbitration and control circuit coupled to saidfirst host task file and said second host task file and said device taskfile for selecting one of the first or second host units to concurrentlyaccess the device through the switch, by accepting non-data FIS, fromeither of the first or second host units, at any given time, includingwhen the device is not in an idle state, when either the first or secondhost units sends non-data FIS to the device, wherein while one of thefirst or second host units is coupled to the device, the other one of tothe first or second host units sends non-data FIS to the switch forrouting to the device and further wherein the non-data FIS of the firstand second host units and the device identify which one of the first orsecond host units is an origin [and/or] or destination host so thatrouting of non-data FIS is transparent to the switch thereby reducingthe complexity of the design of the switch rendering its manufacturingless expensive; further wherein, the arbitration and control circuitresponsive to the original queue depth value and operative to alter theoriginal queue depth value into an altered queue depth value so that ifthe original queue value is odd, the altered original queue depth valueis one half of the original queue depth value after subtracting one sothat each of the first and second host units is assigned a number ofcommands that is less than the number of commands indicated by theoriginal queue depth value but that the total number of commands thatcan be queued by the first and second host units remains the same as theoriginal queue depth value thereby misrepresenting the original queuedepth value to the first and second host units to be less that thatwhich it is thereby preventing commands being lost by an overrun of theoriginal queue depth value by either of the first or second host units.21. A switch as recited in claim 20 wherein the switch is a serial ATAswitch.
 22. A switch as recited in claim 20 wherein said device is astorage unit.
 23. A switch as recited in claim 20 wherein said switch isemployed in an enterprise system.
 24. A switch as recited in claim 20wherein said arbitration and control circuit causes concurrent access ofthe device by the first and second host units.
 25. A switch, as recitedin claim 20, wherein the queue depth value is no more than one-half ofthe original queue depth value.
 26. A switch, as recited in claim 20,wherein in response to an identify drive command from either of thefirst or second host units, the arbitration and control circuit isconfigured to intercept an identify drive response, which is generatedby the device in response to the identify drive command, and to replacethe original queue depth value with a queue depth value that is no morethan one-half that reported by the device.
 27. A switch, as recited inclaim 26, wherein the identify drive response includes the identity ofthe first and second host units.
 28. A method for communication betweenmultiple host units and a device, through a serial advanced technologyattachment (ATA) switch coupled to the multiple host units and thedevice using serial ATA links routing frame information therebetweencomprising: a. receiving a non-data frame information structure (FIS)through a first serial ATA port, from a first host unit; b. receiving anon-data FIS, through a second serial ATA port, from a second unit; c.receiving a non-data FIS through a third serial ATA port; d. arbitratingbetween the first and second host units and the device; e. selecting oneof the first or second host units for coupling to the device through theswitch when either of the first or second host units sends commands forexecution by the device; f. coupling the device to the selected one ofthe first or second host units; g. while the selected one of the firstor second host units is coupled to the device, the other one of thefirst or second host units sending non-data FIS to the switch forrouting to the device during the sending step g., the non-data FIS ofthe first and second host units and the device identifying which one ofthe first or second host units is an origin and/or destination host sothat routing of non-data FIS is transparent to the switch therebyreducing the complexity of the design of the switch rendering itsmanufacturing less expensive; h. intercepting an original queue depthvalue from the device, the queue depth value being indicative of thenumber of commands that the device can queue from either of the first orsecond host units; i. altering the original queue depth value to be aaltered queue depth value so that if the original queue value is odd,the altered original queue depth value is one half of the original queuedepth value after subtracting one so that each of the first and secondhost units is assigned less than the number of commands indicated by theoriginal queue depth value but that the total number of commands thatcan be queued by the first and second host units is the same as theoriginal queue depth value thereby avoiding commands being lost byoverrun of the original queue depth value.
 29. A method forcommunication, as recited in claim 28, further including the steps oftransmitting a non-data FIS through the first serial ATA port, non-dataFIS through the second serial ATA port, and transmitting a non-data FISthrough the third serial ATA port.